


Moments Taken

by Montreat11



Series: Moments Series [10]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-06-08 20:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 58
Words: 123,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6871438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Montreat11/pseuds/Montreat11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a journey into unknown lands is just the beginning of an unknown quest to rediscover a lost soul. 10th in the Moments Series. Belle's perspective of the events that occurred after Emma was cursed with Darkness and the heroes journey to Camelot to save her. It will end just before the Dark Ones set the curse to return them all to Storybrooke. R/R.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Another Story Begins

And then everything changed…

For only one brief moment the room had been still as she looked Rumpelstiltskin, not the Dark One, over for the first time...and then the air sizzled. It was different than the tension she'd felt before, it was electric. So present she could taste it and swore she felt her hair begin to stand on end. It was magical. And no sooner had she realized what she was feeling did an odd ring fill her ears and then the room. It grew louder by the second and that wasn't the only thing growing. Light. The room was shining and glowing brighter than before and when she looked around for the source she found…the hat!

"Everybody step back!" Emma commanded at the same time she pushed herself away. Clearly she wasn't the only one to notice the change.

 _Rumple!_ She glanced down at the short distance between him and the hat and had a last minute thought to reach over and tug him away but it was probably useless. She couldn't drag him everywhere and the Apprentice, whoever he was, had placed a preservation spell on him. He was safe. But what about the rest of them in the room? How safe were they?

There wasn't time to question it.

Suddenly the hat changed again. The light coming from it died as the once bright stars that decorated it disappeared and a fluid black substance like tar pooled over the top of it. The golden container shook on the floor. Back and forth it quaked, knocking against the ground. No one spoke as they watched it as every second its motions became more and more violent. Something that sounded like screaming echoed from inside of it, then outside of it until it bounced off the walls all around the shop.

She glanced at the Apprentice, wondering if he understood, if he could stop it, or knew what was happening…but he looked just as stunned as she felt and took delicate steps away just like the rest of them had. That couldn't be a good thing.

A flash of light lit up the room and those ink black tendrils that she'd just seen coming off of Rumple's heart poured back out of the container. Her jaw dropped and suddenly she knew exactly what had happened before it even could.

They had failed to stop The Dark One. They had failed because the Darkness no longer had a home and that was a problem. It didn't just need a home it needed a host. Because at it's simplest it was a curse. Curses always needed to destroy not just something, but someone.

Without rhyme or reason that she could figure the blackness made its way around the shop and before she could scream at them to get out of the shop and run it changed direction and reached out for the old man.

She stared slack jawed, unable to do anything as the blackness surrounded him and then grew smaller and smaller until she realized that it hadn't just gone toward the Apprentice…it was going into him. It was forcing it's way into his body through his open mouth as his eyes stared blankly ahead in horror until…it was gone.

It felt like it had taken forever but if she'd blinked she would have missed it. The blackness was gone, but the room still didn't feel right, not like it ever did when her husband was possessed by it. And the Apprentice…he didn't look right either. Day to day there would never have been any signs that Rumpelstiltskin was anything other than human, he functioned normally despite his overwhelming magic but the man…his body was rigid as he shook nearly as uncontrollably as the container had. And his eyes! Even from her distance it was easy to see that he simply didn't have them anymore. Pupils, irises, cornea…it was all hidden beneath blackness. And it left her speechless. Was it possible to have a bad reaction to magic?

For a moment the world felt frozen as everyone simply stared at the Apprentice but then there was another burst of light and this one didn't fade to black. Emma. She'd cast a spell or maybe just administered a heavy dose of light magic into the man's gut, into…whatever he'd become. She didn't know what would happen, didn't know where the man had come from, who he was, what he'd done in Storybrooke before all of this or even his name…but she hoped he'd survive this. He was the one that had saved Rumple, he shouldn't have to pay the price. Emma was hitting him with enough light magic to light up the room! That had to be enough…didn't it?

Maybe not. When Emma was finished and the light dulled the man didn't look better or fixed, only weakened. His knees gave out and the next second the rest of his body followed suit as he fell to the floor motionless. For a moment she worried he was dead, that it was too much darkness for one old man to handle…but then his head hit the floor and the chaos began all over again.

Emma's magic appeared to have worked. The Apprentice's mouth opened and the strings of black sailed out of him all over again. She looked around, wondering who would be next, but instead of a person the Darkness chose to retreat out the mail slot in the front door leaving them all surprised and her confused. Had the magic really just fled?! Was it Emma's magic sparing him from a bad reaction? Or was it a rejection? Could it be both? Was that possible? Considering the fact that she was married to the Dark One she knew very little about the curse because it had protected itself well over the years from her and from her books, but she knew that no one had ever fought it off before. It couldn't be possible otherwise the Darkness wouldn't exist!

Then again…no one had ever tried to fight it off before. The Darkness was always taken in willingly in some way. It was a choice. Otherwise when she'd first kissed the unconscious man before her nothing would have happened. Was that why it hadn't stuck? Was it really the light magic within the Apprentice that had evicted the Darkness, or was it his refusal to host it? More importantly, what happened if it didn't find a new host

And what happened if it did?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! For those of you that are just checking out this fiction, welcome! For those of you who are a fan of the Moments Series, welcome back! I hope you'll enjoy this fiction. It's the 10th in the Moments Series, a series that is an attempt at an accurate portrayal of Belle's perspective during the Once Upon a Time series. This fiction features everything that happened in Camelot from the moment just before the Darkness possessed Emma in "Operation Mongoose Part 2" up to the moment that Emma and Killian set the curse to return them to Storybrooke in "Broken Heart".
> 
> If you enjoy this fiction, please leave kudos or a comment! I always enjoy those wonderful gems waiting for me in my inbox, and I love writing back to thank you personally for reading! It helps me know that I'm doing a decent job! Peace and Happy Reading!


	2. Dead Weight

In the aftermath of the Darkness no one seemed to really know what to do for a moment. They were all too stunned by what had just happened to truly process the implication of it all. The Darkness was out there, somewhere...on it's own.

"Mom, Dad, go after it! Go! I'll be right there!" Emma finally yelled, bursting their silent shocked bubble and setting the world in motion again. Mary Margaret and David did as they were told and ran out the door as Emma tiptoed around the body on the floor. The man, the stranger. Not the body. It was feint, only a fraction better than Rumple's state but she could see that his chest was rising and falling. He was breathing. Somehow he'd made it through whatever it was that had just happened to him.

"Help me make him comfortable," Emma ordered without missing a beat. Killian and Henry stepped forward to assist her with him. She supposed that she should have gotten up and assisted, but it couldn't have taken more than the three of them to move him and besides, it wasn't as if there wasn't something for her to do in this room. They may have forgotten, but she hadn't. There was not one but two bodies lying on the floor of the shop. The apprentice handled, the blackness being tracked, she did the only thing that she could think might be helpful: she allowed herself to sink back down next to Rumple and check on him.

She placed her hand over his heart and felt for his heart beat and his breathing…nothing had changed. It was all as it had been only moments before everyone had burst into the shop only now…her eyes found the dagger laying on the floor, the place that he had thrown it only…could that really have only been minutes ago, barely an hour that they'd sat here together and he'd passed out for the last time?! It seemed like hours, like the entire world had changed in that hour time…and more than just the world.

The dagger. It wasn't the same as it had been when she'd first entered this shop or when she'd found it hiding in his jacket pocket. It was still jagged, still menacing looking, and still felt…awful! Like it filled the entire shop with blackness even though she'd seen the blackness disappear for herself but that wasn't all there was to the dagger that was sending shivers down her spine! Something was missing. Something important.

"Emma!" she called as Henry and Killian worked together to move the apprentice. She grabbed the dagger and examined it once more, making sure she wasn't wrong, or it hadn't been turned on the wrong side. She wasn't wrong. His name was no longer written on the side. No one's was. The significance was clear, but what it meant for them...she had no idea how this would change things.

"It…it's gone!" she remarked as Emma joined her by his side. "His name…it's not here anymore!"

Emma stared at the item in her hand with wide eyes for a moment as the boys bumped around in the back. "Well...that's good isn't it?" she questioned. "That means he's not tied to it anymore."

She nodded but she wasn't sure she was ready to call it "good", not after they'd seen the curse itself pour uncontrolled into the outside world as it had. "He may be free of it," she corrected, "but we're not. Not having a name on here…that might be worse than having one."

Emma's eyes changed as recognition appeared behind them, then a moment later determination. "Well then we better find out. You mind?" she asked reaching out for the blade. For the first time she handed it over without a second thought. Why not? It wasn't attached to Rumpelstiltskin anymore and if anyone could be trusted with it against the darkness it was Emma! "Are you good with him here for a few minutes."

She nodded and placed her hand back over his chest, confirming what they already knew. "Yeah but-"

"Great, I'm going to get us some answers!" Emma declared before moving into the back room. She'd heard the wood creak and groan and then the squeak that she recognized all too well as the cot. For a moment her body went through the motions, her legs shifted and twitched preparing to get up and follow, to help and listen…but she felt an anchor on her soul and looked down.

It was Rumple. He was the anchor, but not in the good way he'd once been.

She couldn't go. She didn't know what had happened to him, what was happening to him but the Apprentices words continued to echo loud and clear in her head. "If". " _If_ he could be helped." What was that "if" supposed to mean…and the preservation spell…she hoped it didn't mean what she thought it did, but if her body's refusal to get up and leave his side told her anything it was that she didn't trust "hope" right now. And she couldn't leave this spot and leave him alone in a room…the idea that he might not be well when she came back, or worse, that he would give up his fight for life while she was away…it was too terrifying to consider.

So she stayed by his side and she listened. In the past she'd always been able to hear what was going on in the back…but only when she purposefully snuck up to the curtain and listened. She was about to, about to stand in the door way, but the pulse against her palm stopped her. The doorway was simply too far to move.

She couldn't hear anything, not words at least. Other sounds leaked out of the backroom and through the curtain shielding them from the others. She couldn't make out the words but she could hear tones, the hush of whispers, feverish and worried and also a forced gentility. It was the tone that a mother would use with her sick child when urging them to say what hurt, the tone her own mother had used with her when Samuel had died and she wanted to let her mourn but knew that she had to get information out of her at the same time. That alone told her that the Apprentice's condition couldn't be good.

The curtain whipped aside. Emma and Killian emerged with Henry on their toes. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Henry stay here!" Emma commanded, causing Henry to freeze in his footsteps as though he'd hit an invisible brick wall.

"But-"

It was too late the pair were already out the door and she could see the energy moving through Henry, pushing him forward, urging him to disobey and go. But with that thing out there, the way that Killian and Emma had left the shop so fast…

She couldn't let Henry go.

"What happened?" she demanded from her place on the floor. She nearly stood again to reach forward and pull him back off the brink. But once again her body betrayed her and she hesitated, then realized that she couldn't touch him for the rest of her life and at least Henry was in the same room as she was. With that in mind she finally forced herself off the floor and made her way over to Henry, turning her body so that she could still see her husband out of the corner of her eye but could also keep a hand on Henry. "What happened back there? Where are they going?"

"I'm not sure," he answered, his own attention divided between her and the outside world. "The apprentice…he said that the Sorcerer is responsible for the curse, that he tethered it to the dagger in order to keep it from wreaking havoc on the realm. The Sorcerer's the only one who can stop it."

It wasn't much information but it was enough to make her blood run cold and glance out the window like Henry was. Tethered to an individual so that it wouldn't reap destruction on the land. She was right to panic when she'd seen there was no name on the dagger. Now the curse was out there, all on it's own, not held back by a human soul. She glanced over at Rumple, double checked his chest was still moving and turned back to Henry who was still looking out the window, she felt like she could hear both their heartbeats.

"Alright so…we need the Sorcerer. Did the Apprentice say who or where or…"

"Merlin," Henry inserted. "He said his name was Merlin and…he said he's in a place far away from here. Do you know where he is?"

Merlin. She'd been researching the Sorcerer for months, ever since Killian told her about the hat. Merlin had come up a few times. But so had a lot of other "names". And none of her sources had ever mentioned a place to find him! He was missing and had been for centuries. And the Apprentices instructions? Well, "far away from here" wasn't exactly a precise location.

She shook her head and glanced at Rumple before looking back at Henry. "I've read books but…he's ancient! There is no record of anyone seeing him for centuries, he just…vanished. But…we'll find him Henry. If that's what it takes to stop the Darkness and keep Storybrooke safe, we'll find him and-"

From the back room she heard a groan and a squeak. The Apprentice. He wasn't getting up, but he was moving. Maybe if he was coming around he could tell them more. She took a step in the right direction but the sight of Rumple on the floor stopped her again. She couldn't do it. She couldn't leave him, she couldn't be that far away. And yet she couldn't let it be just Henry, he was only a boy, he probably didn't know much more than she did. They needed help.

"Okay…Henry, check on the Apprentice. I need to make a phone call."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When life gives you lemons...make lemonade. What ever am I to do with all the awful leads the end of season 4 gave us that season 5 just kind of left there? I turn it into a minor theme. Now...technically, what Henry said to Belle about what the Apprentice said and why the Darkness was tethered could all be considered true. You have to squint your eyes a bit and see the underlying truth to it, but the truth is there. Where Belle takes that however is not true. This is a common thing in today's society, so common we have a whole game for children based on it! (Telephone, Whisper Down the Alley, same game different version.) I've explored this topic a little bit before in past Moments Fictions, the idea that when all the characters are not in the same room together or not working in perfect tandem things get left out or warped or just outright missed! This is a very minor use of that right now. With what Henry tells her and what she's just seen she assumes that the Darkness was tethered to a soul so it wouldn't reek havoc on the land, a natural conclusion for someone who only has the facts that Belle has. It's wrong, but understandable. The real fun with this little theme isn't going to come until a little bit later and you know...I think your going to enjoy this little bit of knowledge I gave to her.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you Katrina_Leann and Deweymay for leaving me awesome comments! I'm so happy to hear that you've been looking forward to this! I do hope that despite what we know is coming you will not be disappointed with this fiction and enjoy where I take it! Peace and Happy Reading!


	3. Too Much Too Fast

Henry nodded and did as she said. He stepped quickly over his grandfather to go back and check on the Apprentice as she sat down next to Rumple and placed her hand back over his chest. His heartbeat was still faint, but at least it was steady.

She'd done it. She'd managed to be away from him for all of two minutes…and it was too much. She felt better sitting here next to him, and better yet with her hand over his chest, constantly checking to be sure he was…well…still alive.

That thought, the one that told her at any moment his heart might just give out because it was old and without a curse to force it to work, terrified her. She tried to remember the preservation spell that she'd seen the strange man cast, but she'd never really trusted in anyone's magic but his own. How powerful was this man really?

"He's fine, he's alive!" Henry declared coming back out into the room, making so much noise he managed to draw her eyes up and over to him. But he didn't meet her gaze. Instead his eye's landed on Rumple and widened, like he was finally seeing him for the first time. "Is he-"

"He's fine," she assured him quickly, though maybe too quickly to provide true assurance. "I'm going to make a couple of calls, get us some help, and we'll be fine. All of us."

"The Blue Fairy!" Henry burst out. "She was just down the road, at Granny's diner with us! If anyone would know she would!"

She nodded in agreement as Henry's eyes drifted back outside again. Keeping him put was going to be difficult…but fortunately enough the Apprentice choose that moment to let out another loud groan and she motioned her head in the direction of the back room. "Stay with him," she insisted. He cast one final glance out the window, where even she had to admit that it was too quiet outside for comfort. But there was plenty to do in here and she wasn't about to leave Rumple's side for silence. Blood curdling screams or desperate cries for help was one thing, silence was another.

With that thought she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone to call Granny's, thanking whoever was listening that the Blue Fairy would be easy to locate this time around. Granny answered, called out for the woman, and the next thing she knew she was on the phone. "Belle, what happened? Did something go wrong?"

It took her a second to realize that she already knew what was going on because she'd practically announced it to the whole town when she'd gone into Granny's. She hadn't noticed who was in there when she'd gone in earlier, only seen Emma. But it didn't matter now. They needed another pair of hands at the very least and since she was nowhere near ready to call on Regina after what had happened yesterday, Mother Superior would just have to do.

"Yes," he breathed into the phone. "We need you here at the pawn shop! As fast as you can get here!"

"I'm just down the street, I can be there in a minute or two…"

She shook her head in response when she heard more noises in the back room. A minute or two was too long. "All due respect, Mother, but I was hoping you might just be able to use magic actually."

"We try not to use magic for something so simple as transportation here, not unless it's truly an emergency."

"Trust me…this qualifies! How fast can you get here?"

There was a sudden plume of blue smoke next to her and the Blue Fairy appeared by her side. She didn't even jump, her nerves were already too frayed, but she did drop her phone as Mother Superior dropped down next to her and examined her husband almost medically. "What happened?!" she questioned looking him over. "Where you not successful at eradicating the curse?"

She shook her head. "We were, that's the problem. He's not the Dark One anymore but the Darkness it…it went into the Apprentice and then out the door."

The Blue Fairy froze as she glanced at her with wide eyes. "The Apprentice is the Dark One?"

Again she shook her head wishing that she had more patience to deal with this, or that The Blue Fairy would just use magic to read her mind so that she didn't have to explain this and she'd just understand and help. "He's in the back. His body, it...rejected the Darkness somehow and the curse went out the door without being attached to anyone. It's loose."

"It's untethered?" she breathed with a look of fear in her eyes that she'd never seen the Blue Fairy possess, even after they'd pulled her out of the hat.

"Mother Superior!" Henry's voice broke the silence in the room and they looked up to see him peering out of the back room. "The Apprentice…I think he's waking up!"

Mother Superior glanced back at her for a moment, as if she needed a few extra seconds to process what Henry had just said and decide who needed her attention more. Then she seemed to come to come to the conclusion that Rumple was fine with her and pushed herself off the floor to help Henry with the Apprentice in the back room. She felt a weight leave her shoulders. It wasn't that she hadn't trusted Henry but with the extra help, not to mention the added extra magical knowledge, she felt better. She and Henry could take care of the Apprentice and she…

She glanced down at Rumpelstiltskin, almost mesmerized at his face. She thought that this really might have been the first time that she'd truly seen him…asleep, if that's what she wanted to call it. She'd slept by his side too many times to count, but he'd always been a light sleeper and for the most part been the one to hold her. If she moved he woke up, if she stayed still she still wasn't able to see his face. Was this how he normally looked when he slept? She truly didn't know. But she knew that this certainly wasn't just "sleeping". With everything that was happening, he would have been awake by now.

She held back tears as she reached for his hand. It was warm. The Apprentice and his dreaded "if" was wrong, wasn't he? His hand was going to stay warm, his heart was going to continue to beat…wasn't it? He wasn't…he couldn't possibly be…

"If you can hear me," she whispered brushing a bit of dampness off her cheeks, "I need you to hold on. Please, please, please don't go anywhere. Please don't leave me here alone. Please don't-"

"Belle!" she glanced up to see the Blue Fairy peeking out from behind the curtain. "I could use your help back here!"

At the summons she rose to help but…her anchor weighed her down and she settled back beside him. Walking across the room was one thing, leaving him here and going into the other room...

"Belle?!"

"I can't…I can't just leave him here alone like this. The Apprentice said-" but before she could finish that statement the Blue Fairy had pulled out a wand and waved it. Suddenly there was air beneath her fingers and she panicked for a moment when she realized that he was gone! She'd taken him away or moved him or-

"Now he won't leave your sight as you help me! Please, I need you! No one knows this shop better than you."

Without Rumple to watch and the hope that she'd see him again, she picked herself up off the ground and ran into the back with Henry and Blue and…

"Rumple!" He was there, in the back corner in some kind of chair she'd never seen before. She forgot that Henry and the Fairy and the old man were there and flew to his side once more, fixing a bit of out of place hair and feeling for warmth and his heartbeat again…nothing had changed when Blue moved him. That was good. Encouraging.

"Belle, please! I need your help," the Blue Fairy begged. She nodded, hesitated, but then somehow managed to tear herself from his side and move toward the Apprentice and the Blue Fairy.

"What can I do?"

"Take that rag…try to get his fever down."

Fever? He had a fever? She did as the Fairy told her and picked up the rag already sitting in a bowl of cool water and did what her mother and nurse had always done, she rubbed it over his forehead and cheeks and even a bit of his exposed neck. And the Blue Fairy wasn't wasting time either. She'd taken her wand and moved it slowly up and down and over his body, but stopped with a frustrated sigh after only one sweep.

"What's wrong with him?" Henry asked behind them.

"Dark magic…it's infecting his body, too much of it in someone who has known no Darkness in hundreds of years, it's killing him. What exactly happened to him?"

The Darkness was killing him. It had only been in his body for a matter of seconds…it had been in Rumple for hundreds of years. If it was killing the Apprentice, then what was it doing to Rumple? What would it do to a heart as white as his was now?

"I don't know what happened," she answered honestly. She already had told her the story, all that she knew about it, but she knew that Mother Superior's question went deeper than just actions. She wanted answers that she couldn't provide. And with as foggy as her brain felt she knew that it wasn't just because she didn't understand. It was just too much. "It's been a very long day…"

The Blue Fairy opened her mouth but what came out wasn't words…it was a crash.

Outside.

Thunder.

And…

There was a flash of blue. Lightening? A storm? This strong? This suddenly? No one believed that was what it was. With a glance back at Rumple and the Apprentice the three of them crowded around the small threshold into the shop and starred out the windows, once eerily quiet and calm it was suddenly loud and violent. It was the Darkness. It had to be. She didn't know what else could cause this.

"Well…it would appear the day isn't over yet," the Blue Fairy muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I'm going to take a deep breath and try to explain this as calmly and without ranting as humanly possible. If I'm honest, one of the most frustrating things with this season was the little mistakes the writers made. There were two in this short time that really bugged me. Obviously Rumple randomly being laid in an easy chair in the back room of the pawn shop was one of them. Are we really supposed to believe that Belle, Henry, and Blue moved him all by themselves while the Apprentice was more or less dying? But the most frustrating was the Blue Fairy randomly appearing at the Pawn Shop with no introduction or explanation as if she'd been there the entire time. "But Treatian, if she was at Granny's she could have just walked there!" No. No, she couldn't have. You know why? Because right after the scene where the Darkness disappears and Blue is clearly NOT in the pawn shop we see a shot of the street. The street from Granny's to the pawn shop. The clearly empty street from Granny's to the pawn shop. No one was on the street. Unfortunately both Rumple and the Blue Fairy were little things that had me saying "What so Rumple just magically appears in the chair and the Blue Fairy magically appears to help at the right time?!" But Fortunately for me, on this show "magically" is always an option. And clearly that was the option that I went with here. "Treatian, was Blue really at the diner in 4x22?" Honestly? I don't know. There were a lot of people there, a lot of angles shown, and it was kinda quick, so I also went with the "nothing says she wasn't there and it made more sense than putting her in the convent" line.
> 
> Big thank you to Deweymay for commenting on the last chapter! I'm so glad you are enjoying this again! Now, I know these first few chapters have seemed choppy, yes, we are obviously just now getting to the moment that the curse consumes Emma, but I wanted it to be that way. I wanted to show the different places everyone is in, for the others "the main event" is just now happening, but Belle it has already happened and she is more or less living moment to moment, heartbeat to heartbeat. You know how sometimes you have a bad day and each little bad thing just feels like another horrible thing that has happened, that is what I wanted these chapters to resemble. Bad moments when your heartbeats so fast you can't hardly consider the rest of the world going on, it's kind of like how in the midst of an emergency you kind of feel like you are living in slow motion. So it's going to be slow like this for a few chapters, but when she finally gets her rose things will begin to pick up I promise. Peace and Happy Reading!


	4. Light Takes On Darkness

"Mom!" Henry yelled behind her, shoving and pushing them aside so he could get to the front door.

"Henry!" she yelled grabbing his sleeve. The noise was deafening, she had to scream to be heard over it. But even with the grip she had on his sleeve and her cry Henry continued to fight his way forward. "Henry don't!" She didn't know what was out there but she knew Henry shouldn't-

"They're in danger I have to help them!" he declared finally pulling free of her grasp and running out the door before she could stop him.

She was torn…again! She wanted to go after him. She wanted to run out there and pull him back into the safety of the shop and insist that Emma told him to stay here! But she also needed to be here, in this room. She couldn't leave Rumple alone. She just couldn't.

"He's well suited for this family," the Blue Fairy muttered next to her. "I'm sure he'll be fine." Her reassurance eased her but not nearly as much as she'd have liked. Running into danger without a second thought for his own safety…yes, that was certainly a family trait, one that she had seen result in wonderful triumphs…but also in terrible outcomes.

"Some days I wish he was a little less like his father," she admitted sadly. Mother Superior hadn't heard her mumble. It was too loud for that. The raging storm, or whatever it was, outside was powerful. Around her the walls of the shop began to shake and rattle. In a normal house that wouldn't be too much of an issue, but in this pawn shop, where delicate items rested on every shelf and Dark Magic flourished in the shadows...

"Quick! We need to-" she stopped talking the moment she realized that her shout was suddenly the only thing filling the entire room. The thunder and lightning they'd heard stopped. The wind and shaking walls all stilled and silenced. Moments ago the shop had been loud and chaotic now she could hear nothing but their breath as it all ended. Something had happened. She didn't know what it was, but sudden floods and bursts of magic like that could never be a good thing. Something, she was sure, had changed.

She and the Blue Fairy looked at each other with wide eyes after a moment of looking around the shop. Neither of them could come up with an explanation, or if they did they weren't quick to share it. But-

Both of them jumped at the sound of another groan. It came from behind them. The Apprentice. His eyes were fluttering…he was waking up!

"Apprentice!" the fairy breathed hurrying over to his side and taking the seat she'd been in and picking up her rag to sooth his forehead.

"The Darkness…it lives…" he wheezed.

"It does," Mother Superior answered. "But not in you…do you know what happened to you? Can you remember? Is there anything I can to do help?"

The Apprentice shook his head and breathed heavily. "I'm afraid there is nothing to be done. I...I resisted…I refused to embrace…the Darkness inside…the Blackness needs a host. It needs to be tethered to someone willing…it needs to work…it must…it must…" but the Apprentice erupted in a fit of coughing before he could finish his words and she automatically took a step back, wanting to give him as much space as she could. But would it help?

"He's weak, he needs to rest," the Blue Fairy confirmed as his eyes fluttered again and she watched him cling to consciousness once more. Let him rest…that was easy enough when her husband was in the corner of the room and she hadn't checked on him in five minutes.

He'd only been like this for a few minutes, but she already felt like she had a routine. Check his head. Still warm, no fever. Check his heart. Same pulse. Check his breathing. Shallow…but still there. It was good. It wasn't great, but he seemed to at least be faring better than the Apprentice was. Maybe that preservation spell was the best thing that he could have done for him.

"You're going to be fine," she muttered to him, or maybe just to herself. She simply didn't know anymore. "You're going to be just fine, you'll see. Everything's going to be-" She jumped again at the sound of the little bell chiming as the front door opened. "Fine…" she breathed, watching the alcove. Her nerves were on fire and things kept happening, whether she wanted them to or not, whether she was ready or not! What would she give for five normal ordinary minutes alone with him instead of this constant assult of visitors?! She didn't know who had just come into the shop, but there were a lot of footsteps. Though she had her guesses as to who they all belonged to she just hoped Henry was one of them.

"Apprentice! That monstrosity took Emma, where did they go?!" Hook demanded with a whip of the curtain. She felt her jaw drop as more and more came into the room. Henry was among them, yes. But so were Robin Hood and Regina. She would have happily kicked her out…if Killian hadn't just said what he'd said and Emma…her eyes scanned the people that had just poured into the backroom, hoping that he was wrong, trying to understand.

But Emma was not with them.

Emma? The Darkness…it had taken Emma? But…but how?! Why?! If it had been expelled from the Apprentice with light magic someone as light as Emma should have burned it!

"She is now, where all darkness is born," the Apprentice wheezed in response. "In your realm."

Beside her she looked up at Henry. He appeared to be in shock, just like David and Mary Margaret did in a way and it was easy to understand why. She still couldn't get her head around it. Emma! Emma was the new Dark One! And the Darkness hadn't just taken over her body it had actually taken her?! To their realm? Mist Haven. The Enchanted Forest. It all seemed so simple and yet utterly confusing and complex.

"Then take us there," Hook demanded.

"I am too weak now…but…" the Apprentice flexed his fingers in the air and they curved around something…something out of nothing, "this…will help."

A wand. He was holding up a very old, almost ancient looking, wand! That was going to help get Emma back? It was really going to cast the Darkness out of her?!

"It is a gift from the sorcerer, from Merlin, on the day I became his apprentice," he explained looking at the wand with reverence and a small flicker of light in his eye. Obviously it wasn't just the object that this man loved, it was the man himself, Merlin. And yet…he didn't know where Merlin was? He couldn't be more specific about where he'd gone beyond "far way"?

But before she could ask or say anything he turned to look sadly had Killian. "In it is all the light magic."

"It can take us to our daughter?" Mary Margaret breathed hopefully.

"Not on it's own," he corrected, making Mary Margaret's face fall. He was struggling. She could see that he was struggling more and more with every breath that he took! The Blue Fairy was right, he needed rest. But with his coloring…suddenly she wasn't sure if "rest" would be enough to really help at the moment. "In order to cross realms, it must be wielded as it was forged, with both sides of the coin. Light…and…the dark…"

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man's words died away, but so did he! His muscles relaxed, his chest refused an inhale, his hand went limp…and the wand fell to the floor with an echoing clatter.

Mother Superior reached out and pressed her hand to his chest, just as she'd been doing for Rumple all night, but she didn't need to hear or see the confirmation…the Apprentice was gone. She knew he was and the knowledge made her glance over her shoulder and stare at Rumple until she was certain her eyes weren't playing tricks on her and his chest was still rising and falling.

This was bad. Very bad! She didn't know what the Apprentice was but she knew he was powerful and the Darkness had managed to ravage and kill him in all of only a few minutes after being in him only seconds! Rumple was human, was the preservation spell that he'd put over him even still good anymore? Would it work now that he was gone? And Emma…

"Guess that's my cue," Regina said into the silence before she really had any time to let panic rise up within her. Regina's cue…because the Apprentice said it had to be used by light and dark magic. Regina was the only one who could do anything. Part of her thought it was morbid. The man was dead! His heart hadn't been stopped for more than ten seconds before they'd all moved on but…

The living must come before the dead. She'd learned that once after Neal had died. If there ever was a time to practice it, now, while Emma was out there, alone in a far off realm away from her family and friends, all she knew and loved and all who knew and loved her, as the Dark One, no less, was it.

Regina picked the wand up off the floor. She wasn't sure what was going to happen in a few moments, where they would be or if Emma would be here with them and what state she'd be in but she watched with bated breath just as the others did as she held it up into the air, summoned her magic to channel through it, and…

And nothing.

Nothing happened. Outside crickets continued to chirp in the silent night and if it weren't for the dire situation it would be funny, but it wasn't! Nothing was happening! Why wasn't it working?!

But Regina didn't let that stop her. She tried again, a second time, then a third time, but nothing but silence greeted them each time. What was wrong? Why wasn't it working?

"Enough! You're going to embarrass yourself and waste our time!" Killian shouted angrily.

"Watch it! I know what I'm doing," Regina insisted.

"Well that's not enough," he growled back with a viciousness that made her nerves sizzle. She didn't think she'd ever seen Killian as angry as this, at least not recently…not since that day on the docks, the day he'd shot her. "You heard the man. It needs darkness, you've gone soft!"

"You want to see soft!" Regina bit back. "Why don't I use that hook to show you your intestines?"

"Oh you've got the fire, love, but not the blackness, not anymore!" he hissed in her face. "How's this for irony, you've done too much good!"

The look on Regina's face as confirmed that his guess was correct and he wasn't the only one who knew it. The Evil Queen isn't evil enough to use dark magic anymore…and she regretted it. The regret was there, plain as day on her face. The ultimate sign that she'd changed. She never would have thought she'd see the day that even Regina regretted that madness she'd started but she did. Emma was in the Enchanted Forest, alone, cursed with the Darkness that should have been her husbands, they needed to get her back…and Regina could do nothing.

But if not Regina. Who?

"No!" Killian answered for her. "We need someone wicked."

"NO!" Regina refused. "No, no, no, not my sister!" Zelena? What good was she? Wasn't she too much of the other side of the coin? Too wicked to use light magic? "That witch is more than wicked, she's deranged!" Regina echoed picking the wand again as if she going to try once more.

"For Emma it's worth the risk," Hook insisted firmly. "She sacrificed herself for you, your majesty, because she believed that an evil queen could be good, don't you think you owe it to her to repay the favor?!"

Sacrificed herself for…Regina!

Emma took on the darkness because it was coming for Regina?

That changed things and suddenly she understood. It was in something simple the Apprentice had said while they were alone with him, something that she hadn't paid enough attention to. It wasn't his Light Magic that expelled the Darkness, or even Emma's! It was his willingness, or lack of it, to take the Darkness on. But Emma, the Savior…if she thought that it was saving Regina she would have taken the Darkness on willingly, in a heartbeat!

That changed things. Not by much but…she could see that was enough for Regina.

They had to find Merlin. Fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse me while I go beat my head against a brick wall. The pacing was all over the place in this episode. Then again it was all over the place this entire season. What bothered me about the Apprentice's death (I mean besides the fact that he also appeared to have died in 4x22) was the complete lack of acknowledgement. Yes, I get it, we've got to find Emma, no reason Regina shouldn't pick up that wand and try as soon as she can. But the Apprentice dies and no one appears to react to it. Not even Mary Margaret! There is not a gasp, not a tear, no shock, no shame, no nothing! Would it really have killed the writers to put in a quick "He's gone!" from the Blue Fairy. Or shocked "He's dead!" from Henry. How about a look of sadness from Mary Margaret instead of just Regina saying, "well the old guy croaked, guess he won't be needing this wand after all." Deep breath, I'm going to do my best to explain Mary Margaret's, I suppose I should say, lack of reaction in the next chapter, smooth it out make it a little more convincing. But there is really only so much I can do with these "seen scenes".
> 
> Thank you to the wonderful and amazing Deweymay and Katrina_Leann for the very kind comments you left! Ya'll are awesome and I don't know where I would get the strength to do this without all ya'll's support! Peace and Happy Reading!


	5. Next Steps

They had to find Merlin. And get to Emma, fast. She knew that no one understood that better than Regina and no one regretted that she couldn't be the one to go after the woman herself but at the same time Killian's suggestion had clearly drawn a line in the sand.

"Listen Guyliner…I will save Emma. I don't take that sacrifice lightly but if there is anything I've learned after two years of prancing around with Team Hero it's that there is a wrong and a right way to do everything and my sister is the wrong way! I don't care if I have to tear this town apart brick by brick to find someone capable of using Dark and Light Magic to make this thing work, I'll do it! But my sister isn't going to have any part of this."

"Then maybe that's the problem then. You've spent too much time with them to make an effective decision, to see that sometimes wrong still gets you to right! You need someone who flirts better with both sides to make the choice you can't!"

"And who is that, exactly? You?" Regina questioned with a chuckle.

Killian glared at her for a moment then allowed a sneer to curve over his mouth. "If that's what it's come to then yes!" Before anyone could refute or argue with anything Hook had reached over, plucked the wand from Regina's hand, and pushed nearly everyone aside as he ran out the back door.

"We can't let him do this!"

"Stop him!" Regina and Robin Hood hollered before they darted out the door after him. Regina followed after a delay and David moved to do the same but stopped when he realized Mary Margaret wasn't with him. She was standing at the foot of the cot, where she'd been since everyone arrived suddenly looking stunned.

"Mary Margaret?" David questioned as she closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand. It was shaking. "Mary Margaret, we should-"

"Can't!" she inserted as she shook her head frantically. "Can't do this again…first Emma, then Neal, now Emma again, David…it's too much! I can't keep doing this! I can't keep chasing after my children, fearing for their lives, wondering where they are and what's happening to them!"

"Mary Margaret we don't have a choice," David breathed stepping up to her and placing his hands against her arms. "What's done is done and this is the hand that we've been dealt. We have to help Emma…we have to go with them so we can get her back. She needs us Mary Margaret."

Slowly Mary Margaret began to nod and then the nod turned into more of an uncontrolled shake as she took a deep breath and held her head high again. Her eyes told her that the panic hadn't completely passed but her posture made up for it, confirming that her courage had returned. David was right. She was going after her daughter again whether she liked it or not because there was nothing else that she could do. This was the hand they were dealt.

"Okay…Henry-"

"I'm coming with you," he insisted stepping into David's line of sight. "It's my mom and I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines, if it wasn't for me you'd all still be stuck in that book."

David nodded. "Fair argument. Mother? Belle?"

"I'll make sure the Apprentice is taken back to the convent for a proper burial, but I'll stay close to town today and help where I can. Merlin is older than the fairies, but that doesn't mean we can't help in some way."

David gave Mary Margaret a small tap on the shoulder and with Henry the pair of them left the shop. David remained and looked her over. "Belle, that leaves you."

"I uh…I…" she glanced at the back door, the one that Killian, Regina, and Robin Hood had all exited out of, but then glanced into the chair in the corner, the one Rumple was still sprawled out in, eyes closed. His chest was still rising and falling…but the presence of the body beside her made her utter the words she never thought she'd ever voluntarily say in her life time. "I'm fine right here. Someone's got to stay with Rumple…"

David's eyes wavered for a moment over to her husband in the chair before turning back to her. "How's he doing?"

She opened her mouth to say "fine"…but realized she didn't know that he was. So she took a breath to say "stable"…but with the Apprentices death knew that the preservation spell wasn't a sure thing anymore. The truth was that she didn't know how he was and hadn't known for a long time. She shuddered to think at how long he'd been living with this on his own, without telling her. Obviously he'd known his heart was black since arriving in Storybrooke, but what about before then? Had he known when they were married? Before then?

She closed her mouth and shook her head in response to David. "You should probably go," she insisted glancing over at him as an excuse to subtly wipe a tear from her eye. "If Killian winds up with that wand there is no telling what he'll do to get Emma back."

David looked torn but she'd chosen her last words for a reason, because she knew that he couldn't argue with her. So with an uncertain nod David left with Mary Margaret and Henry leaving her alone with husband…and Blue.

The Fairy wasted no time once they were alone. She turned her attention to the Apprentice, placed his hands over his chest, smoothed his hair away from his face, straightened his shirt, used the damp cloth to wash his face and…

"Do you need to borrow the phone?" she had to ask finally. Watching her do that, make those motions for a dead man…it was painful. It made her feel like she was idol. She hated being idol. In days passed she would have picked up a broom and swept the floor or dusted, anything to make her feel busy. But doing work like that, while Rumple sat in the chair next to her…it felt foolish. If she couldn't fill the dead space with action, perhaps she could fill it with noise. "If you need to call the convent so they can come and get him-"

"My sisters are already on their way," she answered calmly. "It's a connection…a link that all the fairies share. I sent out the call of distress when you called me and I'm certain they'll be here soon and we'll move him."

So there was nothing to be done. They'd be there soon enough, they'd clean up, take the body away, move it…

"Why bother doing that then?" she asked as Mother Superior unfolded his hands, picked each one up individually, washed it, and then refolded them over his chest.

"I'm doing for him the only thing that I can do. The question is what is it you are doing, Belle? Is it truly the only thing you can do?"

It was a simple question, but she knew from the way that she'd asked the question that it was more complex than it seemed. What was she doing?

She sighed as she perched herself back against the arm of the chair he was resting in and pushed back hair that wasn't there for the millionth time in the last hour. "I promised…I promised him that he wouldn't die alone," she admitted quietly. "I can't leave him."

"Who says he's dying? The Darkness has been removed."

She shook her head. "The Apprentice had the Darkness too," she pointed out. "And now he's…and he had to put a preservation spell on him. After it was over he put the spell on him and…he said 'if', 'if he could be helped.' Without a preservation spell…what if it's too late? I know what the town says about him, I know what the world thinks of him and I know what I think of him but…he may be a beast, but he's my beast. I forgot that, for a long time I forgot that…but I can't, I won't, not right now."

"But Belle you-"

Suddenly the shop was a whirlwind of noise and commotion. The nuns, they'd arrived finally. Their clunky shoes echoed through the wooden floor boards and she turned back to Rumple and let the fairies do their work.

They were silent. So silent it was almost eerie. They said little to one another, even to Mother Superior as they entered the space and collected the body of the Apprentice. There was a mumble and a whisper here and there, but their shoes made more noise than their voices and when the sounds grew distant and she finally allowed herself to turn around the cot was empty and Mother Superior was still there, staring at her with that questioning serene look that the nurse in the asylum had given her when she'd broken her wrist pounding on the door so much. "Was all that noise really worth all that pain?" she'd asked as her world blurred in the wake of the morphine. She'd never answered.

"You should come back to the convent with us," Mother Superior suggested after another quiet moment.

She shook her head and nearly laughed at the suggestion. The convent?! She didn't even want to step outside this room! She wasn't going to leave Rumple alone when something could change any moment. No, not again!

"I can't," she responded quickly. "I promised I'd stay with him."

"I understand your hesitation. But despite what you think you are meant for more than the sidelines! The others need help with Emma, now more than ever. The Dark Curse inside of the Savior…it's a potentially dangerous combination. I need to search the rectory for information and you could be a great help with your knowledge of this subject and your fluency in so many languages. And…your beast is strong Belle."

She perked up at those words. He was strong? Really? She knew this for a fact? Because of her magic or-

"He was the Dark One for longer than anyone else in our world and held it at bay for centuries. It takes a strong heart, a strong man to do something like that. And I know what the people say about him just as much as you do, but I've known him far longer and if there is anything you can rely on it is that heart of his to remain strong. First it was for his son, now it is for you. He needs the will to live and you have given him that just by making your promise. Now, you need to help the others have hope as well." Mother Superior explained quickly, perhaps seeing the light in her eyes.

Part of her knew that she'd spoken the truth, not just about Neal but her as well. He'd done terrible things but he'd always done them with good intentions, even if those intentions were selfish. But his heart…what did Mother Superior know about that? What did she know about that? There was a time that she would have agreed whole-heartedly with everything that she'd just said about his heart and how strong it was. But that felt like eons ago. She felt that she'd aged a decade since they'd been so happy that she could say something like that about him with such honesty and dedication. But he'd hidden so much of himself from her and now that the Dark One was gone she had no idea how much was left or which parts she knew and which parts she didn't.

She honestly wasn't sure she wanted to know what she was left with.

But she had made a promise, one simple promise that she could carry out easily enough. She wasn't going to let him die alone and if that meant she had to sit here in this room for a hundred years until his heart finally stopped beating then she was going to keep that promise. If it mean that she sat here for five more minutes until he woke up…she'd figure that out when it happened.

"No, I have to stay here, with him," she concluded. "It's closer and…I-I have my library. Merlin is older than the Darkness but I remember a few books that mentioned him. He hasn't been seen for centuries but maybe I can piece something together from that. And if you find something at the convent, bring it by. I'd be happy to help…from here though. I won't let him be alone."

She looked disappointed but didn't try to argue. At long last there must have been enough determination in her voice to convince Superior that it wasn't worth the air. So, disappointed or not, the Blue Fairy waved her wand one final time. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Rumple and his chair disappear and when she looked back at her she found that he was laid out on their cot again. Somewhere in the transition his jacket had been lost and looking down on the cot like that it made it look as if he was sleeping or simply taking a nap just as she'd done too many times to count.

"Thank you," she muttered walking around her and sitting on the side. She checked him again. Heart. Lungs. Forehead. All still normal. Would they stay that way without the Apprentice's magic? Was there a way to force them to stay that way with someone else's magic? "I don't suppose you could place another preservation spell over him," she asked looking over at Mother Superior with hopeful eyes.

Her heart fell when she frowned and shook her head. "I cannot," she answered. "I'm bound by magical law that the Apprentice is not and can't interfere in matters of life or death. If it's to be he'll awaken and, Belle, it is a good sign. It's not his body that needs to heal and every second that passes is another second he's chosen to fight. He's healing his soul."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so much to say about this chapter. First of all this conversation between Belle and Blue exists because I thought there was more to what they were saying to each other when she gave her the rose. It seemed to reference an entire conversation so...I wrote the conversation. Second...everybody hits their limit at some point. That was ultimately what I was trying to show here with Mary Margaret. She puts up a brave front a lot of the time, well...most of the time since season 1, but she's also one of those characters that will stop on occasion and feel sorry for herself before snapping out of it. Plus, I felt that little bit there gave her a bit more realism. I feel like everyone in their life has those moments of "I just can't do this anymore". I know I have. You are just so exhausted that the thought of going through anything more seems like it is impossible, but at the same time it's out of your hands and you don't have a choice. I've seen parents of kids who have cancer reach this point before, I've seen kids who struggle in school get to this point before, I've been here myself when career demands were almost too much. You just want the world to stop and be normal and okay for a little while despite the fact that you know it can't. And eventually you pick yourself up, take a deep breath, and find the strength to move forward. I liked the idea of Mary Margaret getting there, I felt like she would have felt it more than anyone in the group and was a good pair of eyes for everyone to stop and say "yeah, wow these last two and a half seasons have barely been six months for them and that's a pretty sucky six months for anyone to live through." Sometimes I don't blame Mary Margaret and David for being very into themselves and their exclusive family, they've had a rough few seasons. But finally I also wanted the relationship here between David and Mary Margaret to really contrast with Belle. Everyone in season 5 really had someone. When Mary Margaret was down David was there to pick her up. When Regina questions something Robin reassures her. When Henry is angry and needs a friend Violet comes right in the nick of time. Belle really has no one to offset her this season, no one to balance her out to tell her when she is being stupid or make her the priority and I really wanted to showcase that here as well. Emma wasn't the only one isolated, and I kind of think that contributes to some of her behavior.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you Oncer4Life69Dearie and Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter. I love hearing your thoughts on how you think it's all progressing! And while it may seem slow I can promise you that things are about to pick up and I think that tomorrows chapter will be very...let's say satisfying. I waited so long for ya'll to be able to read it! Get excited ya'll! Peace and Happy Reading!


	6. Closing Open Doors

Just as planned, the Blue Fairy went back to the convent and left her alone in the back room with Rumpelstiltskin. It was quiet. The quietest it had been in the shop all day. Possibly the quietest the shop had ever been. And it left her with a new dilemma, something she hadn't thought about while the Blue Fairy had been here: how was she supposed to go to the library?

She'd said that she would. She told her that she would help Emma from here and she wanted to, truly she did! But the books that she needed were all over in her library. More than once she'd done the math; she could think of no less than ten books that she needed, four that she knew talked about Merlin, two that she'd found references to the wizard and his disappearance in, and four that she knew would be helpful in helping her figure out where Emma was now that she was the Dark One. She knew where the books were. She knew the room they were in, the shelves they were on, how many places from the left they were located! It would take her three minutes tops to collect them, one to walk to the library, one to walk back, and that was only five minutes she'd be gone!

But a lot could change in five minutes. She felt like life had been nothing but five minute changes since she'd woken up from Isaac's curse and came back to the shop. His heart was still steady, but this had never happened to anyone. For all she knew it could stop and in the three minutes it took her to collect books he could be dead, alone, here in this quiet cold shop, without anyone to notice his passing.

No. It was too much of a risk. She wouldn't take it. She just couldn't.

So she waited. Eventually the black night turned sour grey, then pink at the arrival of the sun. Her lids were heavy from doing nothing but sitting by his side all night and watching, her ears were ringing from having nothing to hear but her own breath, and every five minutes that passed she felt a little better but also more guilty that she hadn't gone to the library. Still she just didn't feel good enough or guilty enough to get up and risk leaving him for the next five.

Henry called at dawn. She paced the back room, circled the table, as he told her that they'd caught Killian before he could do anything stupid and agreed that Regina should hold the wand until they could agree on a plan. Killian wasn't happy about it, naturally. But she thought it was a smart move. No matter what Regina had done to her lately, she knew that in this situation she cared for Emma but not enough for it to be a handicap. She could look at the situation with a clear head, especially now that Robin was back in town, and Killian...once glance down at Rumple was enough to tell her that Killian wouldn't be able to think straight now.

Henry told her that it had been a long night; that everyone had dispersed to change clothes, catch an hour or two of sleep if they could and to meet at Regina's later in the day if they thought of anything. Did she find anything, he asked, anything to help get his mom back. She didn't have the heart to tell him how she'd really spent her night, doing nothing, so she told him that she was still looking and so was Mother Superior. If there was anything to find they'd find it. He sounded disappointed, but said good-bye politely and hung up.

Now it wasn't just her or Mother Superior or Emma she was letting down, it was Henry too. Neal's son. She'd promised Neal that she'd make sure things were good for Henry. Sitting here, watching Rumple sleep…she didn't feel like she was keeping that promise. A promise to watch Henry and a promise to Rumple he wouldn't die alone…which was she supposed to give priority to?

Suddenly the bell to the shop chimed and she wiped her eyes, expecting the Blue Fairy had finally arrived with what she needed to study and figure this out only-

"Will!" she breathed, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of him standing in her shop. Their shop?

She'd never really felt tension between the two of them, not even when she didn't like him because he'd broken into her library, but it was here, now. And they both knew it. It was in the way he stood away from her, the way he kept his distance and kept measuring the space with his eyes, wondering if it was too far or too close. It was in the way that neither one of them said anything. Just stared. Odd, because she felt like there was a lot to say. An entire day had passed since the night that he'd helped Rumple return her heart and yet…it felt like a year.

And she'd hardly noticed.

She'd forgotten. In all of thirty-six hours she'd forgotten that one of the reasons she knew she had to break up with him was because she didn't think of him, didn't consider him and his well being in her day to day life, not in the way that she did Rumple. She'd forgotten that she'd been determined to break off any kind of relationship they had this time yesterday, she'd forgotten to worry about him during Isaac's little game of "meet the author", and in the aftermath of Emma she'd forgotten completely that he was a part of her life, an important part!

He was still part of her life.

He was still part of it because he had no idea what she'd been intending to do yesterday when he hadn't turned up, though looking at him now she had a feeling her words would be wasted. He knew. She didn't know how but somehow she knew that he did. But would he know all of it?

"You uh…" she sniffled suddenly and reached up to wipe her face just in case but was almost happy to find that she wasn't crying. "You weren't in town yesterday," she observed simply. "You didn't call."

Will shrugged his shoulders. "Busy," he answered quickly. "Robin Hood returnin' to the fores' 'as tha' effec' on the boys. You 'eard-"

"Yeah," she confirmed before he could finish. No, she didn't exactly know what he was about to reference but it didn't matter, she'd either heard it or lived it. But he… "And you? Did you hear-"

"Yeah!" he echoed. "'Ole bloody town won' shut up abou' i'."

She nodded. Of course it would have made its way around the circuit by now. Emma was the Dark One and Rumple…

"'Ow is 'e?"

"What?" She hadn't noticed that she'd drifted off until his voice brought her back into the present and she realized he was staring at her again.

"'Ow is 'e? Rumpelstiltskin...'ow is 'e?"

She glanced over her shoulder and her body itched to return to his side and check him again, but she resisted at the sight of his chest rising and falling. Normal. Just like he'd been all night. "Stable," she answered. "He hasn't really changed much since…" Since his exorcism? Since the darkness was banished? Since he'd somehow managed to survive something unsurvivable? What was the proper term for any of this?!

"Well…I uh…I figured you'd been up all nigh' and you migh' need breakfast, so I took the liberty…" he lifted his hand and she noticed finally that there was a bag hanging from it. A bag from Granny's. Eating should have been the furthest thing from her mind at the moment, but her mouth watered and her stomach rumbled audibly at the sight. When was the last time she'd eaten? Too long. Because right now Will's offer was one she simply couldn't refuse.

"Come on back," she whispered turning her back and going back to Rumple. She leaned down to set her hand over his chest then forehead. Heart, lungs, head…all clear. And when she turned around again Will had set up shop on the counter. From inside the bag he pulled out a box of pancakes, bacon, eggs, a small container of syrup, of course, and set a cup of her favorite tea before her. Simple as it was it looked like heaven. "Thank you for…for thinking of all this," she muttered taking a sip from the tea.

"My pleasure. 'As 'e been like tha' all mornin'?" he asked nodding toward Rumple.

At his words she turned her head to make sure that Will hadn't caught something out of the ordinary, something that she hadn't! But he was normal. Still. "Since last night," she confirmed with a nod. "The Apprentice, before he died, said that…that it wouldn't be easy for him to return to himself, you know, as he was before he was the Darkness. He put a preservation spell over him and said that it would help until we knew if he could be helped."

"'If'?"

She felt a small smile tug at her lips knowing that he'd picked up on what she had, but it faded the moment she remembered. "Not much good now. The Apprentice died only a few minutes later. No more preservation spell and Mother Superior says she can't get involved."

"I always though' she was a bi' shady, meself." She snorted at his joke. "So…when will you know? When will 'e wake?"

She felt her chin wobble with her resolve and was surprised that such a simple question would bring her to the brink. If only she knew. "We don't," she choked out, trying to hold on to her composure. "I don't know when or if he'll wake up again! But I promised him he wasn't going to be alone if he died so I just keep sitting here and waiting and…I know it must sound awful but I don't know if I'm ready for him to wake up...but I know I'm not ready for him to die! And I don't honestly know which would be worse right now and I just...I just can't-"

"'Ey, 'ey, 'ey…" Will cooed suddenly setting his coffee aside and pulling her against his chest. She felt her chest rattle and before she knew it every bad thought, every emotion she'd carefully concealed and held in, everything that had happened yesterday, last night, and even this morning came pouring out of her. There was so much she didn't even know what she was crying about! There was simply too much to isolate the cause. Maybe it was everything!

But Will was there, just has he had been for weeks. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close, let her weep uncontrollably against his chest, and…

And that's when she remembered everything and pulled away. It wasn't right. Little things like this, like crying and showing too many private emotions, even some of their conversations, it had all led to something that she had allowed to happen and couldn't anymore. She'd known that yesterday morning. No matter how the situation had changed since then, she couldn't allow herself to forget it again.

"No," she cried stepping away.

"Belle?"

"No, I...I-I-I can't."

"It's alrigh'."

"No, it's really not and…and I can't do this," she choked taking two steps away and wiping her eyes. Still, Will was shaking his head in disagreement because he didn't understand. "I can't pretend like we're doing the right thing here. I'm so sorry Will, it's not you, really, it's-"

"Belle, I ge' i'!" he inserted quickly and forcefully, taking a step back of his own and raising his hands as if surrendering. "Really I do, I ge' i'. I mean…" he took a step closer again, canceling out his former motion but it wasn't her that he was looking at anymore, it was Rumple, lying there on the cot, still unmoving. Could he hear all this?

"I ge' i'. It's not like he's a summertime fling come back into town or a high school sweethear' ya jus' have to try again with. He's your husband. You love him whether you want to or not."

If her face weren't so contorted she would have let out a smile, despite Rumple's situation because Will had understood this crazy thing that she had with him from the very beginning. It was silly to expect any less of him now.

So she took her own steps forward again and nodded. "It's true love," she added. "We certainly aren't in love like we were before but true love-"

"It's no' something easily shed. I know. I tried." Of course he did. And for that, for the opportunity not to have to explain her thoughts or emotions after the last few months, she couldn't be more grateful.

He was leaning against the table, keeping his eyes carefully trained on her husband, not looking at her on purpose, probably for the same reason that she wished she could take her eyes off of him. She liked Will. She didn't love him. But she did care for him and value him. She didn't want to have to be the one to break his heart.

She sighed and pushed her hand through his elbow, then rested her forehead against his shoulder and it was odd, but for a moment, if she closed her eyes, she could have sworn that Neal was back. And that thought was all the proof she needed to confirm that this was more than it ever should have been. No one could ever have replaced Neal. Not for her.

"You're a good man, Will. One of the best I've ever known and…I don't want to lose you, or let you think that it was you or even me. Another time…another place-"

"No, we wouldn' have worked out no matter wha'," he interrupted quickly. "Think abou' i'…if we didn't have this one thing to keep us together, if you didn' have 'im and I didn't 'ave Ana…what would we have in common then?"

She tried to picture it. She tried to picture a world where she'd never met Rumple, where she owned the Library across the street, ate three square meals a day, was independent, and organized, and scheduled. And she tried to think of Will, a Will that had never been hurt by Anastasia. A Will that didn't know pain or suffering, who liked to joke and scheme and laugh with friends and…he was right. Without this, she supposed that left them with very little in common.

So she smiled and bumped playfully against his shoulder. "Good looks," she joked.

"Can't deny tha'!" he chuckled and finally stopped staring across the room at Rumple which of course made her stare right at him and watch his chest. Up. And down. Still there. Still breathing. And as long as he was that meant this chapter wasn't closed yet and she suspected that somewhere out there a chapter for Will was just as unwritten as her own was.

"He's my husband Will. And Anastasia…she's your wife!" she breathed. The words, the truth of it, that was what hurt the most. They'd ignored this for too long. Both of them. He'd gone stone-faced the moment she mentioned her name, and it wasn't the first time that had happened. They'd purposefully tip-toed around words like that because if they didn't then that meant admitting to something that neither of them wanted to face. No more. "I know…I know you don't like to talk about her, about what happened between the two of you, but…it's the truth. We married them. We made promises and…we never should have begun this knowing we still had doors open."

"No' sure I'd call Anastasia an open door," he argued.

"Really? Can you honestly say you don't love her?" she questioned staring at him. "Can you really say that you don't think of her, that you don't worry about her or-"

"I try no' to!"

"Trying isn't succeeding!" she stressed. "Trust me, I know! If you spend more time 'trying' than 'succeeding' then something isn't working! It means something."

"You're saying I should go back to 'er…back to Wonderland, back to Ana-"

"I'm saying…" she had to stop there because for the first time she realized just how little about him and his relationship with Anastasia she knew about. She didn't know if she thought he should go back. She didn't know if he shouldn't. She didn't even really know what had happened between the two of them! But…she knew that no matter what it was he wasn't done with her. Did they have work to do together? Or separately? She didn't know, but she knew that there was still work to be done.

"I'm saying that before we can open another door we have to be sure the one we came from is closed. If you can't be sure, then you shouldn't make problems by opening more doors. You'll just let more flies in the house."

A smirk appeared at the corner of Will's mouth. It was a bad analogy, she'd read enough books to admit it wasn't one of her better ones, but at least she'd made her point. "And…if the door is still open? Then what do you do? What will you do?"

The question was enough to knock the small smile off her face as she glanced over at her sleeping husband and watched his chest rise and fall again. One of the reasons she felt so incapable of giving Will proper advice was because she couldn't even really give it to herself. She didn't know what would happen from here, between the two of them, but she did know what needed to be done. "Then you have to go back and you have to decide for good if you are willing to close it, or willing to fight the wind and keep it open."

"Is that what you're doing? Keeping the door open?"

Oh how she wished she knew! How she wished she had the ability to see beyond this moment and what would happen after he woke up, after it was no longer life or death. But for now…for now she supposed she was just waiting. Waiting uncertainly about her future, but knowing for sure what to do with their past.

"I don't know. I'm still deciding, but…I know that if I'm still deciding I can't…"

"I understand."

"I don't mean to-"

"You're no' actually," Will insisted. "Square peg, round 'ole. I've fel' i' for a while now I jus'…I jus' didn' wan' to be alone. The only one i' seems in Storybrooke without someone to..."

He didn't finish. He didn't have to because she understood. And that was what made her heart truly sore because the last thing she wanted to do was leave Will on his own when he'd been the one to swoop in and save her from her own isolation months ago. But this wasn't abandonment, not to her, she hoped it wasn't to him! It was just taking a step back and setting a few boundaries they should have set long ago.

"You won't be alone," she corrected, tightening her grip on his elbow. "I'm still here. Still happy to talk and be friends, no matter what you decide, but it's just that until I decide, until I've made my choice we can't…we can't be like…like we were a few days ago. Is that…is that alright? Can we go back to months ago and…start there? Again? Please?"

Will nodded, slowly at first but with each motion of his head he seemed to be more and more set on the idea until-

He pulled away from her. He pulled his arm free from of her grasp and looked down his nose at her for a moment, then extended his hand. "Agreed. Friends? Like before?"

She nodded and smiled at the gesture. It was the least she could do considering the fact that she could have wept with relief. "Friends," she agreed putting her hand in his. He beamed as they shook and then made a motion to pull her forward and hug her, which she appreciated and even let out a giggle at. This was a much better place to be than before, she knew it instantly.

"Oh, 'ey, from one friend to another you look like 'ell." She laughed at his comment because blunt and honest as it was she was certain that it was still being nice. She'd been up for who knew how long without a good night's rest. She was sure that she looked worse than that! "Why uh…why don't you cross the street. Take your breakfast, shower, change clothes, grab a book…I'll stay with him for a little while. If something changes I can call you and you can be back 'ere in a heartbea'."

Her first instinct was to shake her head and insist that she could do it, that she didn't need all that, and turn him down…but a shower did sound tempting. And it wasn't like it was with Mother Superior, who wanted her to just leave him back here alone. Will would be here. She trusted him. She trusted him more than she trusted Rumpelstiltskin at the moment, and if he sat here and waited for the change for her then he wouldn't be alone. It would be like having a pager.

"You can't spend the res' of your life back 'ere. You'll turn into Rapunzel only in a pawnshop instead of tower. Think of all the things your hair will catch on!"

She laughed at his joke, checked on her husband one more time, heart, breath, forehead, then nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting to publish this entire season! I told you before 5A that hoped they wouldn't show or say anything more about this because I so badly wanted to write this break up scene! Why, you ask. Because I'm sorry, but I'm going to allow myself to have a big head and say that I spent more time developing that Scarlet Beauty relationship than they ever did. Love it or hate it, I worked hard on it and I wanted to be the one to get to end it, damn it! I hope this didn't disappoint. I wanted it to be sweet and and kind like they both were, but I also wanted both of them to have a little mini-revelation and for Belle to go back to what she thought a couple nights ago after the heart incident and think "oh crap what was I thinking?"
> 
> One last thing before I go because I know this is bound to come up. True story, I hate when people have expectations for fictional characters that they claim to love that they would never have for people they love. I know you could say "they're fictional, I hold them to a higher standard" but it just doesn't make sense to me. I don't know if I was the only one who noticed the fact that Belle changed clothes. Somewhere between the events at night and the morning, her clothes and even her hair, are different. Now, I know later in 5x03 when they were all back in Storybrooke nine weeks after this that people criticized Belle for leaving Rumple's side to get food. That's just stupid. If Belle was a friend of yours, would you really want her to spend the next nine weeks at bedside not eating or sleeping or bathing, just watching over a comatose man? Of course not. At some point, after the immediate emergency has passed, you'd tell them to go home get a shower, rest, and sleep. Belle and Will always did work better, in my opinion, as friends and now that they are back in that "friend zone" (yeah I went there), he does what all friends do and helps her. "The immediate danger is passed, go home, get some rest, and I'll take a watch." That doesn't mean it's exactly what she's going to do, but it is realistic and it does give her the opportunity to change her clothes. Thank you to Deweymay for your awesome comments on the last chapter. I do hope you'll enjoy this chapter and the "near" conclusion of this relationship just as much as that one. To read what comes next, I'll see you here again on Monday. Peace and Happy Reading!


	7. One Step Forward Two Steps Back

The shower was probably the best thing she could have done. She hadn't known how truly tired and run down she'd felt until she stepped inside and let the water fall over her as she breathed the steam in and out. It felt good. She didn't know if she'd ever really been back to the Enchanted Forest in the story book Rumple had spoken of but she felt dirty and grimy as though she had, and the dust in the pawnshop she'd been crawling all over hadn't helped either. Her shoulders ached with tension, she felt panic in her lungs, and sleep weighed on her eye lids but she wouldn't give into that temptation. It was simply out of the question.

In all honesty she would have loved to take longer in the shower than she did, but every few minutes she reached for her phone, flipped it up to check that she hadn't accidentally missed any messages, and realized that while this was a good first run, she'd been away from Rumple long enough.

She changed into something comfortable she had in the apartment and went down into the depths of the library because she may as well complete the mission that the Blue Fairy had given her while Will was keeping watch for her.

Her books; they were still scattered around the floor, the place she'd left them when she'd arrived back in the library after yesterday's short lived curse, it was where she'd left them when she woke up and ran over to the shop to investigate what had happened. A lot had happened. But a lot was happening now and she needed to move forward.

Ten books. She'd come up with ten books that she needed to try and figure out where Emma was, what had happened to her and the Apprentice, and to Merlin of course because for the first time the destruction of the Darkest Curse that ever existed was possible. They couldn't pass it up.

One by one she gathered the books, checking them off her list as she went, placing them in a bag, then locked the back room and the library and returned to the store only twenty minutes later with full arms. "Well…you look better though I 'ad 'oped you'd take a little longer," Will commented.

She shook her head. "Didn't want to be gone too long. How is he?" she asked already moving to his side to check him once again. Heart, breath, head. All normal. That was good. She was beginning to believe that Mother Superior was right. Maybe he was strong enough.

"The same," Will confirmed. "Not a peep out of him. What's all this?"

She turned around to find him examining the bags of books she'd brought in and set down on the table. "Research," she answered, taking a final glance at Rumple and then moving to look at them herself. "I thought I might be able to figure out where Emma went or even come up with a few possibilities to find Merlin. He's been missing for centuries but-"

"In every lie there is a small grain of truth," he finished for her. "Migh' give you a lead. What about the other books, the ones you said you keep in the basement, would those 'elp?"

She hadn't thought of those books. The answer? Maybe. Probably. They were probably more likely to have information on the Dark Curse than on Merlin but it would be a start…if only they weren't so far away.

"Probably but…remember when I told you that I wanted to walk to town? I wasn't entirely truthful. When Regina took my heart she must have erased my memories because what I remember of that day…one minute I was here, the next I was at home, and the car wasn't where I left it. Rumple must have taken it. I don't know where he put it, obviously he can't tell me, and until he wakes up I don't want to walk home and be that far away on foot so…until I find the car these will just have to do."

He nodded, but didn't seem to have taken it all in as she'd hoped, though she supposed that she had rambled on and on a bit. It was just like it was a few months ago, when they'd gotten back from the Enchanted Forest and Zelena was a threat. But she didn't care. For as long as it took she'd live here and the apartment and probably at Granny's. Beyond that…no house. For now. It was just too far without a car.

"Righ'…well, I'll keep my eyes open but…I think I better be...going."

"Going?" she asked, because something about how he'd said it hadn't sounded completely normal. When he said he was going, did that mean he was going back to the forest with the other merry men? Or somewhere else?

"Righ' well, no' much to do round 'ere, I suppose, with Robin back and you alrigh' and doors…doors open and all tha'. Righ'?"

She smiled and resisted the urge to cry. First Ruby now Will. She wanted the best for them, for all of them, truly she did, but that didn't mean that it wasn't bitter sweet to say good-bye, especially knowing that what she'd said had helped him make this decision. Right decision? Wrong decision? Only time would tell. "Right," she concluded before reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Take care of yourself?"

"When 'ave I ever no' taken care of meself?" he joked. But a moment later he released her and then leaned forward and kissed her cheek like Neal had once so long ago. "You're a beautiful person, Belle. No matter wha' 'appens…don' forge' tha'."

She nodded and wiped her eyes. "Never," she swore.

Then he let her go and gave her a cheerful salute. She watched him from the threshold of the back room as he opened the door to go and-

Ran right into Mother Superior.

The two collided and with a glance back at Rumple she took two steps forward to help before she realized they were fine and she retreated to Rumple's room again.

"Mother…good to see you again. No one knows quite how to ruin a memorable farewell better, if I do say so."

"Will Scarlet," Blue muttered looking wide-eyed at him. "A pleasure. I haven't seen you since-"

"We don' need a recap," Will inserted quickly. "I'm a changed man now. Reformed if you will."

"Really…what on heaven or on earth could have caused that from a man like you?"

"Well…I suppose you could say it was a rabbit, actually. Annoying little thing 'e can be sometimes too."

"A rabbit?" Mother Superior blanched. Not that she could blame her. She'd heard Will make jokes and try to be funny, but this was one she hadn't expected and deep down, she wondered just how much he was joking.

"Indirectly, yeah…in fact…I think I better go and find 'im now. Word around town is there's been a change in the wind. May as well 'op on the band wagon now, 'scuse the pun! So…if you'll excuse me. Belle…" he glanced over at her again and nodded. She returned it and managed only to whisper a final "good-bye" and wave as he dismissed himself from the shop.

"What on earth was all that about?!" Mother Superior questioned as the door closed behind him.

"It's nothing," she excused. "Only good things." She had the feeling it was the last time she'd see Will Scarlet. At least the last time for a very long while. If she was right, and she'd read the signs correctly, it would be because he was worlds away working just as she was on their open doors. It was a good reason to be gone.

"And Rumpelstiltskin? Any change?"

She glanced over her shoulder and watched his chest rise and fall then shook her head. "Still the same."

"You know…he might not be any different when he wakes, Belle. All this time you are spending here, is it really the best thing for everyone involved?"

She shook her head and moved back to sit beside him again. "I don't know what will happen when he wakes up, but I know that things will be different. I'm not leaving him until I can be sure he's alright."

"Very well, did you find anything that might help them locate Emma?"

Locating Emma. She should have had that done by now. She'd nearly forgotten that she should have been done with that by now, but Will…

"I found some books but nothing so far. What about Merlin? Did you have any information on him at the convent?"

Mother Superior nodded and held out her empty hands. A moment later a heavy book sat upon each one. "These are the oldest books we have at the convent. This one is said to contain magic that predates Merlin and this one was supposedly written just after he'd disappeared by his Apprentice. If there is anything there that might help us discover what happened to him, it will be here. But if not-"

"I'll take one you take the other?" she insisted before Mother Superior could offer her a dire warning about what might happen if what they were looking for wasn't in the books. She was tired of negativity. She was just ready to move on, do her job, and get to work.

Only she couldn't. The moment Mother Superior disappeared behind the curtain to the back she opened the book she'd taken, the one that had magic that predated Merlin and realized that it wasn't the only thing that it predated. Language.

She was good at languages, but not this good. She'd confronted this problem with the books at the convent before and she'd had to use outside sources in order to do it. She didn't know if the Oxford Professor she'd used before was available, but she knew that she wasn't. She couldn't go over to the library now. She couldn't leave him here while his fate was so unknown.

So…what else could she do?

Emma.

She glanced over at the other books that she'd brought over from the library. The Dark One. Emma was the Dark One, the ancient evil that had been around longer than anyone could tell for sure. That was where she needed to start. And it was just as hard as it was easy.

The truth was that there was a lot written on the Dark One, but very little was consistent. The Dark One was old, records were lost, rumors were born, and in the end she couldn't figure out the validity of one story from the other! Some said the Dark One had always been in the world, from dawn of time. Others said that it was an accident. According to some stories the Dark One was born out of desire for power and in others revenge.

No, researching the background of the Dark One…it was too involved. So she settled for something simpler. The people.

It was in another book, a book on Dark Magic and how to defend against it, though it sounded more like how to avoid it altogether in her mind. There was an entire chapter on the Dark One. A very long chapter. It was recent, according to this book Rumpelstiltskin was the Dark One and had been for centuries. But he hadn't been the only one. The book talked of former Dark One's and for a few of them…something was different about how they'd gotten the curse, or rather how it had gotten to them.

Lumiere was wrong…or…maybe he was wrong. She couldn't be sure what was real because Zelena had been using him when he'd confessed "the truth" to her and Neal, but what she could be sure of was something he'd told her hadn't been true. In all her readings something was becoming abundantly clear. There was more than one vault.

The vault that she and Neal had visited had been in the middle of the forest, Lumiere had promised that it was where the Dark One had been created but…the very first book she searched though listed another vault surrounded by tall stone ruins close to Camelot.

_"A family, a mother, two sons, and a pair of twin sisters brought their father, who had been cursed with the Darkness, to the ruins at the advice of an unknown wizard who told them that it was the place the Dark One had been made and their may be a salvation."_

Ruins. That was the clue. She thought back to the moment she and Neal had entered that clearing, there had been snow on the ground then, but the snow hadn't been that deep. There had been no ruins. Ordinarily she would have dismissed this tale but…a wizard? Merlin? She clutched the book closer as she translated and read the terrible tale.

_"The wizard promised that if the father was strong enough he could destroy the darkness inside of him, but soon enough they discovered that their father did not have the required strength. The twin girls hoped to spare their father by outsmarting the curse. Together they both placed their hands on the dagger and freed their father. They believed that if two elected to take on the curse then the curse wouldn't be able to choose and they would both be spared. They were wrong. The twins vanished and a few moments later a single girl emerged from the Dark One's vault. At thirteen the girl was believed to be the youngest Dark One known to Mist Haven even to this very day and the girl, it is said, spoke to herself often when there was no one else in the room. The girl used both twins' name's interchangeably when she introduced herself. It was believed that the twins became one, merged together, until their dying day. It is rumored that the moment the next Dark One found the blade and killed the girl, two girls were present at the time of death, and a single being became the Dark One once more."_

It was an interesting tale, but a tale nonetheless. She wasn't sure how reliable it was. For one thing it might reference Merlin, but it might not. That wizard could have been anyone. And there were an awful lot of "rumors" and "it was said", and "it is believed" for her taste. But that wasn't the important part in her mind. As she skimmed through a few more useless names and tales, all remarkably ordinary she was beginning to sense a pattern. The procedure for becoming a Dark One was usually predictable: an individual stabbed the current Dark One with the dagger and the curse over took them, the end. But then there were a few other stories that were not "predictable". Like the tale of the two twins. Like Emma. And one other. It was a passage about a fairy gone bad with thirst for power she became the Dark One but not in any ordinary way.

_"The Fairy turned against her sisters and sought the magic for herself. The sisters watched in horror as the woman used her magic to call forth the dagger from its owner. She summoned the Dark One and without hesitation killed him with his own blade. Moments later she disappeared in an undefined mass of black. The sisters would not see her again for days, but only a few miles away, a royal family vacationing on a beach were shocked to discover black liquid arising from the sand. When the blackness cleared they saw a metal vault that had been hidden deep beneath the sand and from it's depths emerged the one who would call herself 'The Black Fairy'."_

Three vaults altogether.

Two other vaults besides the one that Lumiere had brought her and Neal to! And that had been a story all on it's own!

Suddenly hungry for answers, she quickly found the book that she'd needed that dreadful day Neal had past. The one she'd read from too late. Maybe this time it wouldn't be in vain. Though she hadn't read it since that day, her fingers automatically found the page she needed as though she'd known she'd come back to it all along.

_"Though the dagger is the only known way to control and destroy the Dark One, there is some doubt if it would be possible to banish such vast and pure darkness entirely from the realms. The Dark One's Vault is said to be the place that the original Dark One was created. Legend states that the terrible evil created within the chamber scarred the earth and filled it with the blackest of all evil. In order to contain it, the unknown being that created the curse locked the evil away with a special key._

_"Though the unknown man had good intentions, he had unknowingly created a source of recreation and life should anything happen to the man that possessed the curse of the Dark One. The blackness within the vault infected the key and burned into it a triangle which is often the symbol of summoning, making the key a talisman. Though the key is missing, its location and existence unknown, if placed within the lock of the vault it has the ability to revive the Dark One from death, recreating the curse, but at a great price. The key is said to brand the individual using it and drain their life in order to restore life to the cursed individual._

_"Death is required for life."_

That was it. The passage she'd read before…before Neal died. Before he'd paid the price required for his father. She didn't know how much of it was true and how much of it was false but it didn't matter because she had another side of the story.

Rumple had been gone but the blackness wasn't destroyed. So it retreated to the vault. The same way it retreated to the vault when two, not one person, took on the blackness. The same way it retreated when a fairy, a creature that had already been innately magical sought it out.

The twins, the fairy, and Rumple, they'd all disappeared and then reemerged from the vault when they became the Dark One…because they were different.

The twins were two people not one. The fairy had been magical long before the curse. Rumple had been dead. And Emma…

She was the Savior.

The curse, or the cursed individual retreated to the vault whenever it needed to recreate itself.

Emma wasn't just in their world.

She had gone to a vault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, Research!Belle! I will not lie, if you are a fan of Research!Belle I think you'll be a fan of this summer's fictions. I found plenty of opportunities for Research!Belle to help even if the writers didn't! I hope you'll enjoy what I did with her here. And I hope you'll enjoy this little bit about the vaults. Did it bother anyone else that "the place where the first Dark One was made" looked really different than it had in season three? Or the fact that Rumple hadn't become the Dark One the same way Emma and Killian were? No way I was going to ignore that. I simply had to come up with an answer for it and this is what I came up with!
> 
> Thank you so much Katrina_Leann, Oncer4Life69Dearie, and Deweymay for your comments on Saturday's chapter and for being such awesome faithful reviewers for me! Much appreciated! Peace and Happy Reading!


	8. Truly An Enchanted Rose

Emma had gone to a vault. It answered one question, but introduced dozens more. Emma was in a vault. But there was more than one. Which one was Emma in? Was she still in the vault? Or was she free? How could they free her if they didn't have a key and certainly weren't willing to sacrifice another life like Neal had to get Rumple back? What were the vaults? Where did they come from? What did they do? Why would anyone create more than one?

Her head wasn't just swimming with questions, it was pounding. She glanced at Rumple for a moment and placed her hand back over his heart. Still beating. Still normal. What wouldn't she give to be able to sleep like he was right now? What would she give to just shut her eyes for a little bit and take a nap and-

No! No, he wasn't sleeping or taking a nap! She couldn't forget that…she just…she couldn't…

She jumped at the sound of something loud and dropped the book on her lap with a bang. Her heart was racing, she felt his and it was normal. She'd nearly fallen asleep! She probably would have if it weren't for-

Cell phone. The noise was her cell phone going off. She scrambled up to her feet and found her bag. She dug until she located it and pushed the button before it could go to voicemail.

"Yes? Hello?"

"Belle! It's Henry. You sound jumpy, is everything alright? Is Grandpa…is he alright?"

She'd nearly been asleep and she felt like she had been. It took her a few seconds to put together everything that had been said. Henry was calling. And she sounded jumpy, probably because she was a little jumpy. She'd almost been asleep and Henry...

"No! No, he's...he's fine!" she insisted sitting back down beside him and checking him again. Heart, breath, forehead. Yes. He was fine, unchanged. She on the other hand…Henry had probably woken her up, naturally he would think that she sounded panicked because of Rumple. "He's fine I just wasn't expecting your call. Is everything alright? What's happening?"

Henry gave a frustrated sigh. "Not much on my end. I got sent to Granny's to check on Neal."

The key to being a good translator wasn't always about knowing the language, it also required knowledge of the culture of the people an individual was translating for. Henry wasn't speaking a foreign language, but she knew Mary Margaret and David and even Regina. "Not much on his end" and "getting sent to check on Neal" meant that something was going on and the others were trying to keep him out of it. And if she wasn't mistaken the tone of his voice suggested he knew it and wasn't happy about it.

"Well, where are the others? What's happening with them?"

"Everyone met up about an hour ago. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of planning, but Mom gave up and finally took Robin and Killian to Zelena. Grandma and Grandpa sent me to Granny's to check on Neal and Roland, which seems pretty useless because I don't think Granny has let him out of her sight since last night! Not to mention Robin came in a few minutes ago to get Roland and take him home to sleep so that Mom could meet Grandma and Grandpa at her office, didn't even bother trying to come up with an excuse for why I should stay with Granny."

Yes, Henry knew exactly why he'd been sent there. And it wasn't to check on Neal. So much for his attempted stand last night.

"I'm sure they're just trying to be careful, Henry. There's a lot going on, no one wants anything to happen to you-"

"I'm not a kid, not anymore! I'm the author! I know I can help!"

Did...did he say he was the author? "Not everyone helps in the same way, Henry."

"I know, I'm just…I'm tired of Granny giving me something new to eat every fifteen minutes. Do you need any help? Is there anything that I can do?"

It was tempting. It would be so lovely to rest her head over Rumple's heart and nap for a couple of hours! But then she looked at the book that she held in her lap and remembered what she was studying and knew that she couldn't let him. It wasn't that she didn't think he needed to know it, or that she thought he'd be tempted, but rather that she wasn't sure that he could do what she could and in the end she didn't know how much of a "help" those couple of hours of sleep would be in the end. She could swear that she'd read somewhere once that unless she planned on getting a full eight hours it was more harmful to lay down. And where would she lay down here anyway? Rumple had the cot. And Henry...had he said he was the author? Hadn't she questioned that already? She rubbed her forehead and then her eyes in an effort to wake up again and focus on the conclusion she had to come to.

"We all have our jobs, Henry," she settled. "I think that I need to help in this way and you need to help in your way."

"Well, have you found anything yet? Do you know where Merlin is? Or where my Mom went? Anything?"

"Yes and no," she answered hearing the strain in Henry's voice. "I know that she's in the Enchanted Forest and I know that she's probably gone to one of the vaults of the Dark One, I just don't know which one yet."

"Do you need help figuring out which one?"

She sighed. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but for some reason she felt more than guilty for trying to keep him from this and yet frustrated at the same time that he wasn't going to let it go. "I'll figure it out Henry. I will. Just…keep in touch. Keep checking in with everyone, that's what you do. You keep us all together and on the same page. You need to keep it up now more than ever. Do you understand?"

Henry was quiet for a few moments, but she finally heard an irritated sigh on the other end of the phone and Henry said that he had to go. "Call me if anything changes with Grandpa, okay?"

"I will Henry, I promise."

And with that she hung up. She slipped her phone into her pocket and glanced over at her husband again. Heart, breath, forehead. Still normal. And though she didn't know what would happen when he woke up, she was already tired of waiting. "It's not just me Rumple," she whispered as she smoothed back his hair. "Henry wants you back too."

Still he didn't move. His heart didn't skip a beat, his breath didn't hitch as it once had when she touched him, and his skin didn't flush. He just stayed the way he was, hovering between death and life. No wonder it was so hard to focus.

"Belle!" Superior breathed somewhere behind her. For a moment she felt hopeful. She was carrying a book in her hand after all, had she found something? Was this about Emma? Could she heal Rumple and wake him up?

"You should go and help them with Emma," she insisted again, smothering her hopes. This again. She must have heard her conversation with Henry. "You're resourceful, they could use you even if they don't know it yet."

She shook her head. Mother Superior's argument hadn't changed and neither had her answer. "If he goes…I want to be here with him," she stated again. She'd promised he wasn't going to die alone, she was going to keep that promise. Mother Superior already knew that, why did she keep pushing this! She would love to go out there and help them! That was the truth of it! She wanted to have an adventure but she couldn't do that if her heart was here, injured, dying! Helping the others wasn't like leaving him with Will and crossing the street for a few minutes, if something happened how was she supposed to get back here? Mother Superior might be convinced that he was fine but she wasn't! She only had what she saw to prove it and-

Suddenly, instead of offering her more words Blue nodded in acknowledgement, just as she had before. She was waiting for the "very well" and for her to share what she'd found in the book she'd brought back but…instead she raised her hand. It was as if she was expecting her to take it or put something in it, but then…her wand was in her other hand. Where the book had gone and when the wand had arrived she didn't know, but she watched in silence as she raised her wand and gave it a flick with her wrist. Instantly the air filled with magic in a way that Regina hadn't mustered when she had done the same thing only hours ago in this shop. And suddenly, in the Blue Fairy's outstretched hand something appeared.

It was a bell jar. Glass. Delicate and small and thin.

And inside of it, protected from the harsh world, there was suddenly a beautiful, shimming rose that glittered with the magic that kept it suspended in midair.

It wasn't just beautiful. It was perfect. It was mesmerizing. It was gorgeous.

And when the Blue Fairy held out her hand and offered it to her she couldn't help but reach out and grab it despite the fact that she feared the rose would slip from her grasp and fall or shatter and die.

It didn't.

In her hands it magically stayed just as safe as it had been in the Blue Fairy's hands. Just as perfect. Just as beautiful.

"This rose is now linked to your beast Belle," she declared while she stared at it. "As long as it still has petals he lives."

She wasn't sure she was breathing right as she looked it over, but…the beauty of it was that it didn't matter if she was breathing right, only that Rumple was. She didn't have to look at him or check him to know…right now, in this moment. He was perfectly fine.

It was astounding. So simple and yet she knew it must have been complex magic. It was a connection, not unlike what she'd told her the fairies shared. It was something that tied her to Rumpelstiltskin, allowed him to talk to her without words, tell her how he was feeling and how strong he really was inside!

"As long as the rose had petals"…it had all its petals. Not a single one was out of place. The rose was strong and healthy and all this time she'd been thinking Rumple was only an inch from death but this rose told her otherwise. He was strong. He was healthy. That could only mean that the Fairy had been right before, it wasn't his body that needed the healing, it was his soul. And without the blackness to take him down...he was going to be just fine.

"Now go," the fairy insisted again, bringing her back to reality and reminding her what this rose did for her. She could go. She could help the others. And when she came back, healthy as the rose was, she knew he'd be here just as he was now. Resting. Healing.

She didn't have the words to thank Mother Superior enough, her actions would have to do. And so without a second glance, she took her rose, her Rumple, and she left to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's the rose! Sorry for the short chapter but I didn't want to put too much here besides the rose. It's so iconic and important I didn't want to take away from it. But I also wanted to put a nice conversation with Henry in there because somehow Belle needs to figure out what the other characters are doing and why they are doing it. There was very little sense of continuity in this episode, they seemed to just throw whatever characters they wanted into a scene without thinking about who would really be there or how information could be properly exchanged. Henry seemed like a good way to do that, I felt that it kept him in character, and if you are a fan of Belle and Henry conversations then you should really hang in there because Moments Taken has probably more Belle/Henry moments than any other fiction.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	9. Back to the Collective

Henry had said that Regina had asked Mary Margaret and David to meet her at her office. That was the first place she had to go then. She hadn't learned much, but she could tell them what she had managed to learn from the books, see if the meeting Regina had with Zelena had given them any clues, and start from there.

As she exited the pawn shop she checked the bell jar and was shocked to find that it wasn't as clear as it had been only a few seconds ago.

The glass was foggy. "Frosted glass" Lacey's memories informed her. For a moment she panicked. She couldn't see the rose within it, she'd taken her eyes off of it for all of two minutes and…

"Show him to me!" she demanded off-hand, giving the thing a little shake.

To her relief, the moment the words left her mouth the frost in the glass melted away from the top on down, opening as if it was a flower for her to look upon her precious rose. Still whole. Still happy and healthy.

She could do this. She could-

She stopped dead in her tracks again the moment she tucked her jar under her arm and looked up. There was something on the street that hadn't been there yesterday, or even early this morning after she'd come back from the apartment.

Her car!

Their car?

She circled it fascinated for a moment, staring at it open mouthed before she noticed a piece of folded paper tucked up under the windshield wiper. Securing her jar she reached forward and plucked it up. _"Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know and what they know! Consider it a consolation prize. –Will"_

She smiled, beamed really, and fought back tears and sadness and happiness all at the same time. He'd gone away, possibly for a long time, but before he'd left he'd found time to find the car for her. He was a good man. She knew that and always would. Wherever he was, she hoped he'd find happiness, he deserved to find happiness with someone even if it wasn't Anastasia, even if it was a long way down the road. And her…

She needed to be a long way down the road. Literally. She had Rumple on her arm, her keys in her pocket, and a car once more to put them in…things were finally starting to look up. Now if only they could say the same thing about Emma.

With that in mind she unlocked the door, folded herself into the seat, and drove the short distance to the Mayor's office. It might not have been far from the pawn shop but the car certainly got her there faster than walking would have.

She heard voices as she approached the door, the familiar ones of Regina, David, and Mary Margaret, but the moment she pushed the door open their chatter stopped and all eyes fell to her as looks of shock stretched over their faces.

"Belle!" David breathed. "I didn't expect to see you here anytime soon!"

"Rumpelstiltskin?" Mary Margaret questioned. "Is he alright?"

"Is he awake?" Regina asked almost desperately, taking an anxious step toward her.

She glared at Regina, her automatic instinct was to pull away from her, but she knew that wouldn't help Emma. Like it or not she'd have to endure at least a little bit of the Evil Queen to help the Savior. So she took a deep breath, adjusted her bell jar and took a step into the fire. There would be no turning back now. "No, he's…he's not. And…neither did I," she answered nodding in David's direction. "But I talked to Henry and Will and the Blue fairy and they all reminded me that I can't spend the rest of my life waiting by his bedside wondering if he'll live or die, especially when I'm needed here, so…so the Blue Fairy gave me this!"

She held up her foggy bell jar for all to look at it and when it didn't melt away again she asked, though a bit nicer this time. "Show me my rose." Once more the foggy bell jar melted away and revealed the vibrant healthy rose to the crowd who, despite the situation they found themselves in, gawked at it much the same as she had when she'd first seen it.

"What magic is this?" Regina growled uncertainly.

Not that Regina needed to know, but..."I think it's a mirroring spell of some kind, probably mixed with an enchantment of Blue's. The rose…it's Rumple. As long as it's healthy like this, he lives."

"And if it's not healthy?" Mary Margaret questioned quietly, looking at it with concern and skepticism. She couldn't exactly blame the woman for that, but for now she preferred to look on the brighter side of things. The rose was healthy, and so was Rumple.

"So long as it has petals, he's alive," she clarified carefully. "So…" she sighed, tucking the jar back under her arm and breaking their stares. "What do we know since last night?"

David gave a sigh of disappointment. "Well, not much more than before unfortunately."

"Zelena?" she questioned. "Henry said you went to see her."

"Hardly any help," Regina answered. "But she did say that even if we got the portal open we need something to channel the magic so it'll take us to Emma."

"Right…something…something that belonged to Emma," she realized happily. "Something that will take us to her no matter what!" It didn't matter which vault she'd was in or if she had come out of it yet or not, the portal would do the magic for them. So…why weren't they using it. "So, what's the problem?"

"Finding someone to actually use the wand," Mary Margaret commented in an emotionless tone. There was clearly a big difference in the woman than there had been last night when she'd last seen her. Her jaw was set, not necessarily determined, but it was far from flinching. It was as if she'd accepted that all this worrying was her fate, but was determined not to be happy about it no matter what.

"My sister thinks she can open the portal," Regina continued on for her. "I think that trusting her is foolish."

"There must be someone else, someone in Storybrooke that walks the line between good and bad who can open the portal for us," she reasoned with her because despite their differences at the moment she actually agreed with her. Zelena was too much a loose cannon. "Malificent?"

"Maybe, but with her daughter back in the picture she may be no better than I am now!"

"So think, Regina," David insisted. "There must be someone in this town you know that can help us. You encountered your fair share of villains in the Enchanted Forest."

"In the Enchanted Forest, yes, but here…there was only room for one Evil Queen thank you very much and it's not like we got together for tea and cakes every Tuesday at noon to talk about the weather and our favorite torture techniques! And after I cursed them I don't exactly see any of them lining up to offer their assistance, do you?"

"Sorry love but I'm afraid we're going to have to put that on hold…" she glanced over at the door to find Killian and Henry striding into the offices.

"Henry?" she blanched. Hadn't he just been at the diner?

"Hold? Hold for what? You've been pushing this harder than anyone now you're stepping on the brakes," Regina questioned instead, ignoring her sons presence.

Killian opened his mouth but nothing came out. In fact after another breath he sighed and reached into his pocket. He took something out and held it in the air before them. A band of some kind. What was that thing?

"What's that supposed to be?" David asked for her.

"My mother's?" Regina answered for him. "You found the second bracelet?"

"No…not exactly…" the pirate answered slowly with a look like he'd just taken a cookie from the jar before dinner.

"Well then…don't tell me...you didn't! Tell me this isn't-"

Hook nodded. "It's the one that was on Zelena."

"She cut if off her arm before we could stop her," Henry inserted, making Killian roll his eyes and shake his head.

"Easy, lad, it's all in the delivery."

"It is not all in the delivery!" Regina screamed suddenly. "You took my son on a covert mission and you let her out?!

She watched as Killian rolled his eyes again and struggled to bit back his frustration before pointing out "Technically I let her escape."

"Moron!" Regina roared.

"Watch it your majesty, at least I'm doing something to save Emma."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well maybe you like being with Henry, _alone_! Maybe you like not having Emma around."

"Maybe you like having a hook! Maybe you'd like another!"

Belle rolled her eyes and took a small step away from the pair, refusing to be a part of their petty spat...again! Frankly she was surprised either of them were giving in at all. They were clearly baiting each other and continually taking the bait offered! They'd never accomplish anything that, not even if they-

"Enough!" Mary Margaret called out over the two of them, finally breaking up the childish squabble. "Zelena's out, that is what matters, but not as much as Emma!" she said tersely. "Emma kept us united and that is exactly how we are going to remain, come hell or high water we are going to put our nonsense aside and find my daughter! Okay?!"

Hook and Regina glared at each other in the silence that followed but neither said anything and no one objected. It made sense. There were a dozen different relationships in this room that had changed half a dozen times at least. The fact that she was here with Hook and with the Evil Queen and didn't fear for her life was startling to her. She could work with Regina for now, if she could work with Killian then she certainly could work with Regina. No, she didn't have to enjoy it, what she'd done to her heart only days ago still hung between the two of them and felt raw and fresh. But that didn't mean that she had to argue with Regina and sacrifice the knowledge and good that could come from their collective understandings. This was about Emma, not them. They'd deal with their issues on their own time, when Emma was safe and Zelena was no longer a threat. The others seemed to understand that as well. It was just like the conclusion that Mary Margaret must have come to between now and last night. Acceptance but dislike. They'd have to live with it.

"Okay…" Mary Margaret confirmed for them. "Where would Zelena go first?"

"I know exactly where," Regina answered. "Or more accurately who she's after."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand because nothing makes sense in this episode they are off again. Sorry ya'll I'm doing my best to smooth this episode out, really I am. I did have to do something to explain the lack of graphics for the rose in some scenes here. Not too upset about that though, I understand if they didn't want to add graphics for that all the time, it would have been a lot of money with very little reward...kinda like Hades hair. Plus, I felt this was a pretty easy way to explain it. And if it makes you feel better it's going to get a little more fun as we go on. I gave it some development. Just not in this episode because nothing seems to develop here. I hope that you won't mind how I handle it in the future.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter! I'm so happy for all your thoughts! It really does help me know that things are right on track and where they are supposed to be. Never change! Peace and Happy Reading!


	10. Revelation in a Time of Crisis

It was Robin.

They all knew that it was Robin the minute Regina had declared it was a "who" and not a "what".

"Robin Hood, where is he?" Killian asked looking around as if he'd just noticed the thief wasn't in the room.

"He went to Granny's to get Roland and put him to bed," Henry answered for him.

"Did he go home?" his mother asked.

He shook his head. "Said it was too far. He went to-"

"Our loft," Mary Margaret finished for him. "Regina, don't panic we can be there in only a minute!"

"Not if I get there first!" And in a burst of smoke the Evil Queen had disappeared from among them.

"Now what?" Killian asked.

"We go after her! Them!" Mary Margaret declared grabbing a bag and hurrying out the door. "Henry go back to the diner and wait with Granny," she commented as they stormed down the steps so they could pile into cars.

"Not a chance, I care about Robin and Roland too!" Henry yelled trailing after them. No one argued when he got into the car next to her and Killian took the backseat. David's tires smoked as he led the way in his pick-up truck and she followed closely behind. Sure enough only a minute later they pulled up in front of Mary Margaret's building but she knew the moment they stepped inside that they were too late.

There were voices upstairs, behind her apartment door. Regina and Zelena. Arguing.

"One more word Zelena and I swear I will-"

"Oh, careful! You wouldn't want to wake the boy now would you? I've grown rather fond of him in the last few months. I'd hate to have to murder him because you couldn't keep your voice down. And oh, look!" The door to Mary Margaret's suddenly shot open so quickly it slammed against the wall and dust fell from around the frame. It revealed the scene inside the apartment. Regina and Zelena were face to face, clearly, only it appeared that Zelena quite obviously had the advantage. Robin stood beside her, tense and red, struggling, it appeared, for air. She could see the green magic coming off of Zelena that she was using to keep him bound with only a tense hand. Her eyes they were wild with insanity but not on Regina...they were on them. She didn't know how but she'd known they were there. "How cheerful, the gang's all here!"

"What do you want, Zelena?" Regina questioned without even looking at them over her shoulder.

"I think you know exactly what I want. So let's take this somewhere a bit less…confined, shall we?" Zelena sneered with wild eyes. "See you at the showdown, _Sis_!" And with a final wink and peal of mad laughter she and Robin Hood disappeared in another cloud of smoke.

Her head was beginning to spin. Too much had happened in too little time. Everyone was everywhere, threats pushed in on all sides, and now…a showdown?! Another one…where on earth…

"Showdown…" Mary Margaret muttered. "She means the town square!"

Yes, that was probably right. The last time Regina and Zelena had faced off she'd wanted it somewhere public, she'd wanted attention and space. Regina was right, her sister was deranged, in her mind this was like history repeating itself! They hadn't known what she'd been after then either! Not until it was nearly too late.

"What about what she wants?" she questioned aloud.

"I know what she wants," Regina muttered. "It has to be the-"

"Papa? Regina?" Roland's small voice called from somewhere above. It was small, but it was enough to stop Regina in her tracks. "Give me a minute," she growled before trotting up the stairs calling out the boy's name.

"I don't suppose she said anything when you went to see her that would give us a hint?" David questioned looking at Killian.

"Just the ravings of a lunatic," Killian confirmed. "Much as I hate to admit it the Queen might actually be on to something. Her sister is far more twisted than even I'd considered, but that still doesn't change the fact that she can get us to Emma."

Obviously. In all her life she'd never understand how Killian thought going to Zelena would be a good idea given the trouble they'd had with her before all this. She'd worked with him, as much as she would have hated to admit it years ago, she knew now that he was smarter than that.

 _"Unless it came from a place where logic doesn't apply."_ Neal. His voice in her head was so clear, it was just as though he was standing in the room with her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd heard his voice in her head, but it had been too long. And she knew instantly what he-what she meant.

"True love…" she muttered.

"What?" Mary Margaret questioned, glancing over at her. She shook her head because she hadn't meant to actually say it out loud but…she knew Killian cared for Emma, maybe loved her. But was it possible? Was that love really-

"We have to go," Regina insisted, moving down the stairs with a sleepy looking Roland on her hip and a black bag slung over her shoulder. No one argued as she whipped out the door and crossed the street outside. She could see it now, there in the middle of the street, just like last time…Zelena. Only now…now she had Robin Hood by her side. "Alright…Roland," Regina stood him up on the sidewalk and turned him away from his father. The way he was rubbing his eyes she doubted he'd noticed he was there. "Roland I need you to take this," Regina set the black bag from her shoulder onto his, then reached in and pulled something out of it.

The wand. The wand they'd seen last night. The Apprentice's wand!

"You think that's what the witch wants?" Killian blurted out.

"What else?" Regina growled.

"No! Regina you can't! We need that to-"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Regina sneered at David. "You're just going to have to trust me on this. Roland," she whispered turning back to the boy, her face turning softer again in the blink of an eye. "I'm going to send you to Granny's and I want you to wait for us there. Tell her not to let you out of her sight, we'll be there in a few minutes with your dad, alright?"

Roland squinted her eyes at her. They were blurry and unfocused. She was sure the boy didn't know what was happening to him, or to those he loved. And with Regina's magic he'd never know. With a wave of her hand Roland was gone and Regina got to her feet before casting her eyes down the street to the place Zelena and Robin were waiting.

"Let's end this," she growled. Then, without looking to see if anyone had listened to her or was following, took off down the street.

Zelena waved as they approached, mocking her sister with false friendliness as they got closer but Regina wasn't swayed. She just kept going until they could once again see the magic that Zelena was using to keep Robin confined.

"Hello Sis," Zelena smiled. "I see you fixed the clock! Be a shame to break it again. Although it might be fun to see Robin…fly like one of his arrows," she mused, making a motion toward the clock as Robin choked only inches away from her

"You lay another finger on him-"

"Oh, I'm not here to hurt Robin…I'm here to trade him, for the Apprentice's wand!"

"What the hell do you want with this?" she questioned as if she was shocked that her sister had asked for it.

Zelena wouldn't actually believe that would she? She wouldn't think it was only a coincidence they'd shown up with it?

"I am tired of losing to you! You continue to get _everything!"_ Zelena cried through gritted teeth. Clearly she was going to buy it! Though…her eyes slid to Robin. He remained stoic even through her latest burst of anger. He was going to make it through this so long as Zelena didn't accidentally kill him. "Now…I have someone to love me…and only me!" she smiled suddenly, reaching up and touching her belly lovingly. "See this is my future and I am not letting anyone take it from me or turn it against me so I am going as far away from you and Robin as possible! Over the rainbow, where you can't follow!" She smiled madly as she translated her rambling. "Over the rainbow"…she understood that reference. She was going-

"Back to Oz?" Regina questioned for her.

"I may have been feared and despised there but at least I was free, at least I was in control!"

Free. In control. Unlike what Regina had given her here… It wasn't long ago that Mary Margaret had lamented creating her own villain in Maleficent. With what Zelena was saying, she wondered if Regina was creating one for herself now…or at the very least making it worse than it already was.

"So if you want your forest smelling boyfriend to live through the day you will give me that wand."

Regina had been right. She wanted the wand. And yet…she looked pained and maybe even surprised. But…she'd expected this…hadn't she?

"Don't even think about it," Hook snarled behind her.

"You can't Regina please," Mary Margaret begged just as she had moments before, as if Regina hadn't told them that she expected this to happen. Was the begging a ruse? Was it really Snow White putting her trust in the Evil Queen? Or was she really asking her not to do this? They hadn't exactly come up with a plan before or even a resolution!

Robin's body began to shake and he made gurgling sounds as he struggled to breathe. It was Emma the savior, or Robin her true love. Her heart hurt, no matter what the others had said, no matter what they thought, she already knew the decision. It wasn't a choice at all. It wouldn't have been for her.

"I have to," she whispered predictably. With that, Regina lunged forward, Zelena swiped the wand from her hand and freed Robin so that Regina could tug him forward, his face far more blue than red.

"Lovely!" Zelena breathed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another prime example of feeling like they skipped a few important things! If I had to pick one scene in all of 5A this was the one that annoyed me the most. It was a lot of little things. Were we supposed to believe that Regina just knew that Zelena would take Robin to the center of town? If they went right to there from the office how did Roland get into the diner? If Regina doesn't "know" that Zelena wants to trade Robin for the Apprenitice's Wand then why does she just so happen to show up with it in her hand?! Please writers...think a little!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on yesterdays chapter! I liked that Will gave her the car back too. It made sense to me and seemed like the only way for her to get it back! Peace and Happy Reading!


	11. The Queen's Solution

And so it had happened. Regina had Robin back safe and sound but now Zelena had the wand, the only thing that could take them to Emma unless they could find another magic bean! Not to mention she had Robin's child tucked away inside of her. What were they supposed to do now, just stand here and watch as she escaped with the wand and the child?!

"Now all it needs is a little direction!" Zelena commented. "A trinket from home!" In her hand she saw that Zelena had pulled out a necklace of some kind. It was a charm on the end of a golden chain only…was it just a charm? Her jaw dropped and suddenly she wished that she was closer and could properly see the thing! Was it possible that was a six leaf clover?!

She'd read stories about what that could do but never seen one, not even in her time with Rumple! But…it made sense. The clover was said to have the power to change the appearance of the wearer. It was so powerful it could work with only the smallest fraction of magic! And Zelena had to have used something magical out there in the Land Without Magic in order to pretend to be Marian! And it would have had to be good if they'd gotten close enough to conceive a child and Robin hadn't noticed! So that was how Zelena had done it! She'd gotten her hands on a six leaf clover and crafted a mask no one could possibly see through! Brilliant...and yet terrifying.

"Now see me do what you weren't powerful enough to do yourself," Zelena growled swirling the wand around the clover so that it glowed emerald green with magic until she turned and threw the magic over her shoulder as if it were a baseball. It arced far, far away, down the road, over the house at the end of the road…and settled into the sky. Above, clouds grew thick and dark and flashed with green lightening before something pushed out and made its way toward the earth as a spinning cyclone…a portal. To any normal person it might appear as though it was a forming tornado but she'd seen this too many times. It was undeniably a portal to another realm…Oz. And it-

Suddenly green flashed closer to them and Zelena seized up and doubled over. Her first instinct was to grab Henry and pull him back and Robin apparently had the same urge, but Regina didn't miss a beat. She stepped forward, grabbed Zelena's wrist and locked the bracelet over her arm once more before taking the wand back. David sprang forward quickly and grabbed her arm. Now she no longer had freedom or control. She was harmless again. But at what cost?

"What the hell happened?" Killian demanded.

"What happened is I'm not stupid," Regina tossed over her shoulder. "I knew you could open that portal, but I also knew it would weaken you," she said to Zelena as she struggled uselessly against David. "You see, there's one thing our family does well, Sis…and that's exploit pain. We're going to take your portal but we're not taking it to Oz…" Regina glanced back over her shoulder, not at Killian or even Robin Hood, but rather at Mary Margaret. "We're going to take it to Emma." Mary Margaret looked as though she might burst into tears at the declaration. But after a moment she gained control again and nodded almost proudly at Regina.

"Let's do it," she whispered excitedly, her voice showing more emotion than she'd seen all morning!

"Well if we're really going to ride this portal to Emma we'd better hurry! It's open now and moving fast!" Killian pointed out. He was right. She'd never argue with a pirate who knew how to diagnosis weather conditions, but even she could already feel the wind around them picking up as the twister grew larger and closer all at the same time.

"To Emma…not to Oz? How do we do that?" David asked.

"Leave it to me?" Regina answered.

"What about the rest of the town?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"It'll be nothing more than a bad storm, the portal should be drawn to its target…her!" she motioned toward Zelena. "As long as she's with us it'll come for us and nothing else, it's meant to transport not destroy. But we need cover, something strong to get us there without tearing us apart in the process, like when we took the Jolly Roger to Neverland…and I know exactly what we'll use," Regina muttered to herself, solving her own problem. "Follow me!"

She took a step forward but then stopped as she felt a weight push down on her. Helping. She'd been fine with helping but now…it was all so sudden. One minute she was helping and the next she was about to jump worlds away?! "Wait…now?" she questioned. "I can't…not without Rumple-"

"There's no time!" Regina barked. "That portal will be here in only a few minutes and you're either with us or you're not when it comes! You have to choose now! It's one or the other but not both!"

"Belle…" Mary Margaret urged. "We'll understand."

They'd understand. They'd understand if she stayed here and waited and…wondered? If she continued her research and found information that they needed to find Emma and had no way to get to her?!

They'd understand.

She didn't think she would.

The Blue Fairy was right. She couldn't sit in the back of the pawn shop, starring at Rumple, wondering when they'd come back, all the while he didn't wake up. She didn't think he'd want her to! And thanks to the Fairy she didn't have to.

She sighed and lifted the glass jar up in front of her face, it was becoming more and more difficult to hold it steady before her with the wind but somehow she managed to demand it show itself and she watched as the fog disappeared to reveal her beautiful healthy rose.

They were going to the Enchanted Forest to help Emma, not resurrect the monarchy and their Kingdom. They had the wand and the person that could open another portal. The trip wouldn't be long, Rumple was strong and if something happened while she was there…she'd get back to him. Wand or no wand, support or no support…she'd find a way.

So she closed her eyes, swallowed, and took a deep breath to say two agonizing words. "Let's go," she agreed.

Her permission given Regina turned and led the group back down the road the way he'd come. Henry continued to stand by her side as they went.

"I'm glad you're coming," he managed to tell her over the wind. "Dad and Grandpa, they would be glad too wouldn't they?" Dad…Neal. Yes. She couldn't be sure about Rumple anymore, at least not as sure as she'd once felt, but Neal…

"Yes," she concluded truthfully. If Henry was going with them and Emma wasn't there, then yes. Neal would be glad she was going with him.

"No!" Robin yelled for Regina the moment they stepped into the patio of Granny's. "No, I just remembered, I can't go! Roland! He's at the apartment! He's all alone!"

"No, he's not, keep moving," Regina ordered quickly, practically shoving her lover up the stairs and into Granny's diner. She imagined it was worth it the moment Roland cried out "Daddy!" and ran for him, jumping up into his arms at the last minute!

"Roland!" he sighed, kissing his son's cheek and breathing him in. "I'm so happy you're alright."

"You didn't think I'd leave him behind with her on the loose did you?" Regina muttered making a motion toward Roland.

"I knew I should have killed the little brat when I had the-"

"That's enough out of you!" Regina cried waving her hand in front of Zelena. There was quiet, but not for lack of trying on Zelena's part. Her mouth was open, it was moving…but no sound emerged. Her face turned red, her muscles tensed, and her eyes bulged suddenly as she let out a scream…but there was nothing to hear. Regina had taken her voice. Not exactly a new trick, she knew that from Ariel, but it was effective enough for the moment.

"What's all this?" Granny shouted coming around the wall from the kitchen.

"That's it, everybody out! Now! Queen's order's we're annexing this diner!" Regina shouted at the small crowd before her.

"Like hell you are!"

"Granny...please, we need it!" she explained stepping around the crowd and grabbing the old woman's hand.

"What the hell for?"

"Where is Neal?" Mary Margaret inquired as several diners pushed and shoved around them trying to get out. Whether Granny agreed or not appeared to matter very little with the Evil Queen gave an order.

"Last booth on the right, now someone want to explain why the hell I'm loosing my lunch tips?!" she squawked.

"There's a portal coming this way. We're going to use it to take us to Emma and we're going to use the diner to get there" Regina explained.

"Portal to where?"

"Enchanted Forest, now I won't say it again, out!" Regina screamed.

"Not on your life, Queen or otherwise. Where this diner goes I go, everyone else…out! Go home, hug your families, this one's on the house. Go! Get out!" she screamed at the couple of people that had stayed to watch the interaction. And she didn't stop there. She and Regina were like Captains of a ship. Granny handled the diner. She dismissed the staff but only after she'd taken a look at the weather and decided to brace herself for a "bumpy ride". The waitresses, the cooks, they all worked to tie anything that moved down. Anything that couldn't be tied down got set on the floor. Breakables were secured. Electricity unplugged. Generators stored.

And Regina…she was their Captain. She ordered Killian outside to wait for the portal and tell them when it got closer. David and Robin Hood worked to tie a very feisty Zelena to a chair on her command. And with Neal in Mary Margaret's arms again she told Henry to keep an eye on Roland.

The kids. Of course it made her nervous bringing them with her, but it also eased her. This was going to be a quick easy trip. If it wasn't, no matter how short on time they were, they would have found time to get the kids to safety. She'd be back in no time. And in the meanwhile…she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket but was disappointed to see that she had no service. The storm must have knocked it out. The Blue Fairy, she'd stay with Rumple in the shop. She wouldn't just leave him alone in a place like this where she was sure a few half dozen people would love to take advantage of his weakened state…would she?

"Show me Rumple," she whispered into the craziness. There. Healthy and strong. Just like before. This was going to be fine.

She caught a glimpse of the bell jar frosting over again as Granny yelled at the remaining few to finish up and get out while they could.

"Not sure my insurance covers this place going airborne!" she commented after they'd finally gone while she made her way through the diner to collect the rest of the stuff on the tables up herself.

"We'll be fine," Regina assured her just as they finished tying off Zelena, their bait, and Killian trotted back up the stairs and into the diner. "Well your majesty its coming. How do you suggest we get this cyclone to take us to Emma and not to Oz?" he asked.

Regina finally picked up the black bag she'd brought with her from Mary Margaret's loft. "By using this…" from within it she pulled out something soft looking, white with purple trim…

"Emma's baby blanket!" Mary Margaret gasped with surprise.

"I uh…I couldn't very well carry her yellow bug," she added. She couldn't see Mary Margaret's face, but she saw her shoulders set. She was touched, she must have been. And Regina, the woman that had once hated Emma and wanted Henry for herself…well, maybe they all had become family after all. Where did she fit into the picture with Rumple? With Regina after what had happened only a few days ago...she no longer knew...

"Ready?" Regina asked after a moment. She saw Mary Margaret give a sharp nod. She didn't want to wait any longer. Regina turned and waved the wand over the blanket in her hands. For a while nothing happened and when Henry helped Roland off the chair she reached for him because surely the two of them were better than one if something did happen!

And something did happen.

Just like the clover the blanket glowed a warm cream color and the air sizzled with magic. She squeezed Roland's hand and-

"Twister!" The diner's door burst open and Roland turned into Henry while she squeezed her glass jar closer. But it was nothing. Leroy, Doc, and Happy were there before them. They were just coming to warn Granny's only-

"We summoned it!" Mary Margaret corrected stepping forward.

Leroy looked taken aback for a moment, like he had to think twice about what she'd just pronounced. "You did?" He questioned.

"It's taking us to Emma," she confirmed.

"Out, dwarves! Adults only!" Regina restricted as a flash of lightening lit up the street growing darker by the second. She would have thought it was nearing sun down, not midday.

"No!" Leroy yelled after a moment long face off with the former Evil Queen.

"No?" Happy questioned. He'd already had one foot out the door, but Leroy…she couldn't exactly say she was surprised at his refusal.

"We're staying!" he insisted.

"We are?" Happy questioned again.

Leroy's gaze moved, from Regina to Mary Margaret and instead of his usual fierce and rough looking expression, right now he just looked compassionate! And perhaps a little bit desperate.

"We been on the sidelines too long sister, missed too many adventures, now it's embarrassing! How do you think it feels whenever someone asks you how the adventure was and you gotta say that no one asked you to go along, that you weren't needed?! We're not turning our back on you again, not even in the face of certain death!" Leroy declared with far more passion that she knew he had in him. Oh, she wished she knew who Nova truly was here, wished she could meet her, and show her this Leroy. She was certain that no woman would be able to resist that kind of passion and sure enough she saw the fight go out of Regina at the insistence of the dwarf. And though the wind ripped through trees and howled as it whipped around the windows, she could have sworn that she heard Mary Margaret whisper an emotional "thank you" in his direction.

" _Certain_ death?" Happy clarified a moment later.

No one answered him.

A moment later a shock blasted through the diner and everyone screamed. "Hold on tight everybody!" Granny screamed. She tightened her grip on the bell jar and reached out for Henry and Roland in the fuss as everyone tried to find something stable to hold onto against the unseen force.

She took shelter by the counter as most of the group did. She heard things fall and shatter around her but never laid eyes on them. The scrape of metal and plastic against linoleum as chairs and tables began to slide across the floor.

"You did it," she heard Henry whisper to Regina after a moment when things began to get…odd.

Then her stomach, suddenly it gave an unnerving lurch and she had the sensation she was being thrown in an unnatural direction.

Upwards.

They were going up.

It wasn't easier, not by any stretch of the imagination. The shaking and crunching had stopped and in its place the building was swaying, moving side to side as if it was nothing but a piece of tissue paper in the wind.

The portal…they were inside of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know there was a lot of hate during this scene because people all said "you really are going to leave your dying husband for a 6 week trip to Camelot!" Now, I get it, really I do and under the proper circumstances I probably would have agreed, but these were not proper circumstances. We the viewers need to remember that sometimes we know more than the characters do. In this scene Belle does not know she's leaving for six weeks. She doesn't even know they are going to Camelot. No one does. Their plan right now isn't "let's all go stay in Camelot for six weeks!" Their plan at this point is nothing but search and rescue. "Let's go to our realm, get Emma, bring her home, and deal with it from there." That is a day trip to her, two at the most and with the security of her rose I see why she said "yeah I've got time". Now what I get angry with, especially with writing this fiction, is why the hell they had to stuff so many characters in that they were only going to give minimal use to. Granny, the dwarves, Roland and little Neal, even Belle to a certain extent, in they end they were just a great big ole waste of space and screen time because they did nothing!
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	12. Magical Cause and Effect

They were up inside the portal. The room was spinning, people were bracing themselves around her. Smoke covered the windows so she couldn't see how far they'd gone or how far up they actually were. Maybe it was better this way. It was dizzying enough without considering heights. If she stopped to do that she worried that she might be as sick as she felt at the moment.

So instead she did what the others were doing. She sat down on the floor and put her back against the counter then locked her legs against the wall in front of her and held her bell jar as close to her stomach as possible.

"Show me Rumple," she begged. It was remarkable. For the first time she'd checked she didn't do it for him. She expected it not to have changed, she felt good and confident that he was fine, just as the flower inside was. No, this time she asked to see him for herself. They were about to be in separate worlds again and this was her only link to him, the only reminder she had of him. She needed to focus on it as her world spun out of control. After all, despite the chaos he brought into her world he was her constant. She needed that now. And when they were back tonight or in a couple of days…she'd see him then. And this rose would still be healthy! She was determined it-

"Ah!" There was a scream and a few "oomph's" as suddenly the movement stopped. But even braced as they were it still sent people reeling! One of her knees gave a painful pop as she fell against the floor but saved the jar before it could fall. Henry grabbed Roland, Mary Margaret held Neal secure in her arms and both of them were gathered up against David who appeared to have not hit the floor but rather the counter. Granny and the dwarves were all sprawled out on the floor of the diner along with the overturned tables and chairs, including Zelena, who seemed to be on her side.

"Zelena! The baby!" Robin cried spying her across the room. He darted over to her and lifted the chair back up on its legs.

Regina followed and waved her hand in front of her again. "Is anything wrong? Anything broken?"

"What have you done to my baby you evil bi-"

"She's fine," Regina confirmed, waving her hand again and removing Zelena's voice. "How is everyone else? Henry, Roland?"

"Fine, mom," Henry answered helping Roland to his feet.

"Anyone hurt?" David asked releasing Mary Margaret. "Belle?"

She nodded as she got to her feet and hobbled toward the counter. She may have nodded, but they had noticed the wince that came before the nod and Leroy quickly scrambled up a couple of chairs and helped her into it. "It's my knee," she explained as Leroy helped her gently rest her foot up against the chair.

"Hold tight, I think I've got some ice in the back!" Granny instructed, marching off toward the back.

"Don't bother," Regina said, ignoring the old woman and marching over to her. "This will help," she whispered waving a purple colored hand over her knee and removing the pain and discomfort in an instant. "Better?" she asked so genuinely that for a moment she nearly forgot that she was supposed to be angry with Regina and withhold her trust.

"Yeah," she conceded. "But this doesn't mean I'm not going to want to talk about what you did with my heart later."

In Regina's eyes she saw a flicker of guilt, but it was only there for a moment before she rose again. "There will be time for all that later. First we have a job to do."

"We have to find Emma," Mary Margaret breathed. "Do you think she's close by?"

"Absolutely," Regina muttered. "The portal was designed to bring us to her, she's around here somewhere, the question is where." Regina went back to her black bag. It had seemed so small when she originally seen it, but it seemed endless now as she reached inside of it again and pulled out a small vile of potion, a tracking potion if the color was any indication, and then…the dagger.

Her body tingled when she saw it, and it wasn't because Granny had suddenly emerged from the kitchen and uselessly placed a bag of chilled peas over her knee. It was because for the first time in years she realized that the dagger and its location had been far from her mind. After she'd given it to Emma yesterday she hadn't thought to consider what happened to it. Perhaps it was because she figured Emma had taken it with her. But now she saw it again. And to see the name "Emma Swan" written across it in harsh, sharp writing…it chilled her blood.

But not for long.

Regina poured the liquid in the vial over the dagger and she watched as the dagger began to wink and finally glow. "Alright," David murmured confidently. "Let's find our daughter."

"I'm coming with you!" Henry inserted quickly.

"We can't just leave the diner here!"

"I'll stay and watch the kids," she volunteered. Her knee was fine, she knew that, but the memory of the pain was enough to make her want to not go traipsing through the woods.

"And we'll watch the diner," Granny volunteered putting a hand on Leroy's shoulder. "Living in the forest is great but I think we all agree that we've been spoiled and can use a few modern conveniences."

"We won't be here long, Granny," Mary Margaret commented. "Just long enough to find Emma."

"Or so you say," she argued. "We'll assess the damage, get the generators working, and guard the prisoner," Granny muttered making a motion over to Zelena, who only rolled her eyes in her chair. "You…" she added, stepping up to Mary Margaret and taking Neal out of her arms, "go find that girl of yours."

They didn't appear to need any more encouragement. Regina, dagger in hand, left the diner and was followed by the Charmings, Henry, Killian, and of course Robin Hood. She watched them go out the window, down a dirt path, or maybe more of a dirt road and into the woods and it was only then that she stopped to consider where they had landed.

It was certainly a forest alright. Not exactly the thick of a forest, but a forest nonetheless in the Enchanted Forest. There was not a doubt about that in her mind. As much as she loved Storybrooke there was something about this land, about this realm that she'd grown up in…she'd recognize Mist Haven blindfolded if she were dropped into a portal.

But she didn't recognize this part of it.

The Enchanted Forest was big, too big for her to have visited everywhere even with her status growing up and nothing about this place seemed familiar, even as she got up and walked to the windows to stand next to Granny and look out. No, nothing familiar about this place.

"Where do you suppose we are?" she asked.

"Ha!" Granny chuckled. "There was once a time I could figure out exactly where I was just by smell!"

"Well?" Leroy pushed. "Do you recognize this place?"

Beside her Granny took a deep whiff and smiled. She turned and dropped Neal into her arms then looked at the dwarves and said "not a bit" before heading to the back room. "Come on, may as well make ourselves useful while their gone. Leroy, help me get this generator up!"

"What about us? What can we do?" Doc asked for happy and himself.

"Get the tables up and in order. And watch the witch!" she called over her shoulder. The dwarves glanced at each other and blinked before looking over at Zelena who gave a childish eye roll and rocked herself back and forth to show that she was clearly attached to the chair and wasn't going anywhere. Still the dwarves suddenly made fists at each other called out "rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" and Happy groaned at defeat. Angrily he pulled a chair up from the floor and sat next to Zelena in a huff while Doc began picking up tables and ordering them again.

She couldn't help, not with Neal in her arms, so instead she looked around and located Roland, laying down on the back bench, trying to sleep. He'd had a long night poor thing. They'd all had a long night...were still having a long night. She smiled as he attempted to catch up on the sleep none of them were permitted, then picked up Emma's baby blanket, and draped it over his legs before holding Neal closer as he began to fuss.

"Hey!" she whispered happily to the infant, bouncing him in her arms. "You want to see something really special?" She sat down before her bell jar once more, lifted Neal into her arms, whispered "Show me Rumple" and…the bottom fell out of her world.

She felt numb, frozen as she gazed inside the bell jar and was suddenly aware that she was holding Neal. Was she? Were her arms still working? Had she dropped him? Yes, she was still holding him, tucked away safe beside her chest but Rumple…a petal had fallen.

But…

So quickly?!

When was the last time she'd checked the bell jar? It had been only moments ago hadn't it? It had been whole then…hadn't it?

Before her eyes another petal glittered with light then fell from the bud. Not completely of course. The two petals, they just sort of floated there in the middle of the jar, weightlessly gliding around the rose-

The rose! She tried to remember that Mother Superior had said it was the rose that was linked to Rumple! It was missing two petals of course, but beyond that it still looked healthy. It still looked flawless.

Except for the petals.

Could he sense that she'd gone away? Could he sense that she'd left his side and their realm for this one? She felt so sure that he would understand if he knew but…in order to understand and know he had to be awake. This whole time she'd been assuming that somehow he could hear her. Now she wondered if maybe he couldn't.

Light suddenly shone down on her from above, making her jump and Neal fuss again in her arms. Light. Not sunlight or candlelight but the false artificial light she'd become accustomed to in Storybrooke…Leroy had succeeded. Already?

She glanced back to her rose and found the glass had frosted over again. How long had she been staring at it? How long had they been here? How long had the flower lost its petals?

"Alright, we've got power!" Granny declared coming back into the room and looking them over. Her eyes stopped on her. "Which is a good thing because you look like you've seen a ghost."

Did she? She supposed she felt as though she'd seen a ghost. Did it show that much? "It's um…I'm…it's just my leg," she whispered hitching Neal up into her arms. "It'll be fine."

"Good. I'll take the little guy. Last thing you need is to trip and fall with him. Obviously the backup generator survived the portal, a few of the lesser appliances didn't but the big stuff is all good. We don't have much power but it'll keep the cold things cold and the hot things hot for all the longer we're going to need to call this place home."

"Which hopefully won't be long," she added staring at the foggy glass. It wasn't the same now that she knew what was behind it.

"Hopefully," Granny agreed with her.

"Do you have ice cream?" a bleary eyed Roland requested pushing himself up from the bench. As Granny told him "later" if he went back to sleep, she sighed and clutched her bell jar to her chest in Neal's absence. To be a kid and not have to worry about anything but cold ice cream would have been lovely.

"Hey!" Doc yelled suddenly from the window. "Hey! Look! Look, they're back!"

Back? Already?!

She turned and looked out the window that Doc was looking through. Sure enough she saw a group of people walking down the path to the diner. Regina, Robin Hood, Mary Margaret, David, Henry, and Killian but most important to them all was the woman dressed in a long grey dress.

They'd done it.

They'd found Emma. It had taken hours not days. Maybe now she could get back to Rumple.

"Great!" Granny declared heading for the door and dropping Neal into Happy's arms. "I'll tell them the good news! Back up generator's working but the fryers are shot!" she heard Granny shout the moment she burst out the door. "The news" was an excuse. Heaven forbid Granny lose a single bit of her crusty demeanor and show how worried she'd truly been.

"Terrible news! No onion rings!" Leroy spewed stepping out the door as well.

With a final glance at Neal and Roland to make sure they were sleeping she followed them out. "Emma!" she breathed, but before she could truly say hello she watched as the girl shrank from her. No, not just her. Everyone. She hung her head for a moment then looked down the road, distracted by something or other.

Finally she heard it: a horses whinny. And the ground…it trembled rhythmically beneath her feet and she knew before she saw them…it was more than one.

"What now?" Leroy asked beside her as they rounded a corner. It was more than two or even three. There were at least half a dozen riders on horses and in chain mail coming down the road.

"Stand back!" Emma insisted stepping forward. She opened her mouth to tell her not to use the magic, that the more she gave into it the more of a temptation it would become to use it more, even for small things…but there was no time.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Emma demanded, facing off with one of the riders.

"I'm King Arthur of Camelot! We've come to find you."

Her jaw dropped. Camelot. The Camelot?! That's where they were? One of her books had mentioned a vault in Camelot…was that were the magic had sent Emma?

"Find us?" Hook questioned.

"My Lord…they think their arrival is a surprise," one of the riders commented beside…King Arthur?! The real King Arthur?!

"You were expecting us?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"It was Merlin," Arthur declared. "He prophesized your coming here a long time ago just as he prophesized many things."

Merlin. As in the one they'd come to find? The one that had been missing for years?

Something didn't feel right. He'd been gone so long and now he just suddenly popped up again, right when someone needed him most. She'd been starry eyed, she knew. She'd hoped for the best in this trip so they could get home quickly, but this didn't feel like it was "the best"…it felt…suspicious.

"Merlin, where is he? We were told that he's been missing," Emma asked stepping forward. Clearly she didn't share her suspicion. Was that because of how much time she'd spent around Rumple, being tricked? Would she have thought this way a year ago?

"He is…yes," King Arthur nodded. "But not for much longer, because according to his prophesy, you are destined to reunite him with us!" They were looking for him and he was looking for them? That was…too perfect. "Now then, if you'll all follow me…"

"Where?" Emma asked.

"Why Camelot, of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty straight forward chapter. I just wanted to start the petals falling soon because when we get to the ball there were six petals fallen. I wanted that to be somewhat gradual. So other than that this became a filler chapter. Sorry about that, but on the bright side, we're officially moving on to 5x02 and while things are still confusing in that episode, they at least start to gel together a little bit better.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments and also for catching my spelling errors! You are always welcome to point those out! I read every chapter three times but sometimes they slip by. Peace and Happy Reading!


	13. A Curious Feeling

Camelot. They were going to Camelot now?!

No! No, this was supposed to be a short trip! They were supposed to get Emma and take her back to Storybrooke and figure out what to do about the curse from there! They had the wand now, she hadn't stopped to think about it before but it was quite remarkable, as long as they had that wand they could return to this, or any, realm any time they wanted. Just not now! Not now that two petals had fallen from his rose.

But she didn't get her wish and she didn't dare speak what was actually happening to her rose to anyone, especially not in front of the men dressed in chain mail and especially not the one that was looking her up and down and smiling with half his mouth and sneering with the other half. Let them think she was carrying nothing more than a fancy frosted cookie jar.

A few moments later Happy, with Neal in his arms, and Regina emerged from Granny's diner again. She had a tired looking Roland slung up into her arms and Zelena walking almost amicably beside her. Another spell perhaps?

Did it matter? All she knew was that suddenly Roland was down on the ground in front of her, they were walking side by side the knights on horseback, and Emma was asking just how far they had to go to get to Camelot.

"Not far!" King Arthur declared. "It's lucky for you that you arrived where you did, it's only hour's hike from here."

An hour. They would be an hour away from Granny's, her ride back to Rumple! She could have groaned at the thought, but as it was she hoisted her jar up higher and walked onward to-

"Something the matter?" Robin asked beside her suddenly.

When had he arrived? Last she'd seen him he was walking side by side with Regina. "Just…" she cast a glance up to the rider that was only a few feet from her. "Just wishing I had different shoes to go hiking through the woods in," she excused.

Beside her Robin let out a snort. "You know one of my favorite things about you…you're a very bad liar."

She smirked. A bad liar. Where had she heard that before? "Rumple used to say that," she muttered.

Robin reached out and gently touched her back. "He will again, Belle."

Would he? Did she want him to? "Maybe…"

"I'm sorry to go putting my nose in places it doesn't belong and I'm sorry if I'm making our first true discussion in months a bit awkward, but…if there's anything I can do…"

Convince Regina to send her back to Storybrooke. That was something that he could do. But not now. Next to her a horse let out a snort and she was reminded that asking now would only make them stop and cause a scene and she didn't want that. Later. Later might be better.

"I'll let you know," she answered instead. With any luck Regina hadn't told him everything and if push came to shove, then she could use what Regina had done to her, capturing her heart, as blackmail, if need be. "And I am glad that you're back," though the words tasted foul in her mouth especially with the thought she'd just had. Did she really want to blackmail someone? Regina? Yes, she'd done a terrible thing to her but was blackmail, Rumple's way, really the way she wanted to go? Who was she? Who had she become? Who had he turned her into?

The group continued through the woods throughout the afternoon. It was sunny, but fortunately for them not too hot or too cool. She supposed if she wasn't staring so hard at her glass jar, willing it to open up for her without having to say the words she might have actually enjoyed the little hike. But in the end she counted her steps and kept checking the sun to figure out how long they'd been hiking.

The world around her told her they'd been walking a little under an hour, she felt like it had been five by the time King Arthur suddenly jumped off his horse. But when she looked up she realized why. Finally the trees had given way to water. A moat. It was a moat and up ahead…it was breathtaking.

Coming out of the trees, dazzling against the sun was a castle, polished and gleaming. It looked like something out of her fairy tale books and it was far more radiant and beautiful than she'd pictured it. Smaller too. But oddly perfect to her eyes.

Ahead of her the sound of trumpets blew. Actual trumpets! She'd never heard trumpets blow for something so informal as guest arriving, but…

But then again they weren't exactly guests to them or surprise visitors they'd just happened to stumble upon out on an afternoon ride. They were prophesized to be here right now. Was that what all the hullaballoo was for? Was that how they'd known to prepare?

Over the bridge they marched. On either side red and gold banners waved at them and large wooden doors that held more ornate gold on them than she'd ever seen in her life suddenly opened for them into a courtyard with checkered marble tiles. "Wait here! I want to be sure you're announced properly," she heard King Arthur state, but couldn't take her eyes off of the architecture. It perfect. It wasn't as glitzy and glamourous as the royalty that she had experienced living in Regina's castle, it was far more official than her own home had ever been, but it was still perfect somehow, in a way that she just couldn't put her finger on. And she wasn't the only one.

They were all looking around. Everyone here whether they had been royalty for a lifetime or year. They were finally called forward and they were moving, people were clapping for them, and the only thing she could focus on was how wonderful and complete the picture was. Extraordinary.

Ahead of her a staircase greeted them and King Arthur descended toward them once again with a knight she'd seen on the walk here she thought might have been called Percival. They looked perfect on those stairs and-

She felt a brush against her shoulder that broke the spell and finally let her turn back to see Henry, falling behind, eyes wide as he too stared at the opulence he'd been born into but never experienced. "Wow!" he blanched as she gave him a small tug to pull him forward again.

"Wow is right," she heard David mutter in what sounded like astonishment.

"I am so not dressed for this," Mary Margaret added as she straightened her back and smiled, perhaps in an effort to make up for it. Yes, she certainly did feel underdressed for this crowd and their smiles and applause and…all of it! But they'd never been to Storybrooke before. Clearly whatever curse Regina had cast hadn't gone far enough to include them and she could remember how odd and strange her Storybrooke clothing had felt the first time she'd worn it. Maybe they wouldn't realize how underdressed they were? Maybe they'd feel underdressed.

"His royal highness…King Arthur!" someone announced from above, introducing to them to the one person they already knew. He greeted them again at the foot of the stairs by holding out his hands in a proud bow and…

She shied away. She shrank from the rest of them as she looked on because for one moment something about him, about the castle, and even the people…it wasn't right. It was hard to tell what it was. But it felt like looking through the Snow Queen's horrible mirror for a moment and seeing things clearly for just a brief moment. Was it just the suspicion that she had, or the fact that his bow had reminded her of Gaston? Which image was she to belief, the one she saw, or the one she didn't see.

"And now allow me to introduce the loveliest creature in all of Camelot, my Queen...Guinevere. Sure enough down the staircase a beautiful woman descended in a purple gown that accentuated her olive skin tone.

"Your majesty," Mary Margaret breathed before stooping into a bow. The rest of them followed as she remembered her manners and Guinevere took Arthur's hand. No matter what she thought of him Arthur was right about one thing…she was lovely. But something about her eyes…they were missing something. They were…hollow, in a way. She was perfect but her eyes said otherwise. Suddenly she had the urge to run back to the diner and lock herself inside with Henry while she still could…and then she couldn't.

"The pleasure is ours," Guinevere corrected. "We have been awaiting your arrival from the moment we heard Merlin's prophecy.

"Well, we hope you haven't been waiting too long," David commented.

"Well, only a decade or so," Arthur replied.

"Ah, sorry," David apologized with a chuckle. Strange, she was sure Arthur had meant for it to sound funny, but his eyes didn't match his she the only one to see all this? David's chuckle sure sounded genuine.

"I'll wager it's been worth the wait. And as a bonus it's given us more than enough time to prepare a ball in your honor tonight."

"Whoa, see, told ya we should come, look what we've been missing out on!" Leroy whispered to the others.

"I like any party I don't have to cater," Granny added.

"So do we!" Leroy insisted.

The others were happy. She wasn't. A ball! She didn't have time for a ball, not when there were other things to be done, not when Rumple was realms away, not when she couldn't share a dance with him, and certainly not when looking around this place made her feel like she was looking through that dreadful mirror again only she couldn't figure out why!

"It will be simple but also elegant, we'll arrange rooms and clothes for you while you're here and of course…"

Arthur was talking but she wasn't listening, not when there was a hushed conversation going on right next to her between Regina and Zelena. When she'd given the witch back her voice or why for that matter she couldn't be sure, but obviously it wasn't going to last long. Just as she'd glanced over at them, just as Zelena was whispering a threat about the Dark One being among them Regina closed her fist and Zelena's voice squeaked out again. Zelena fought it of course, just as she had the other times, her face strained and turned red as she rubbed her throat in an effort to make even the smallest sound, but in the end nothing came out.

"What's that, sis?" Regina teased beside her. "I can't hear you! No one here knows who we are and it's going to stay that way so you can either behave and pretend to be my mute handmaiden or…go back to Granny's. We can rely on Doc for prenatal care."

She didn't know what was so bad about going back to Granny's, personally that was exactly what she wanted to do, right along with head back to Storybrooke, and that was exactly what she planned on telling Mary Margaret the first chance she got…which came around only seconds later.

The group began to break-up as Arthur and Guinevere began to talk to each other. She couldn't hear what their conversation was about, but David and Mary Margaret ventured toward them and she quickly moved up alongside Mary Margaret before she could get caught up in it as David had.

"Hey, how's Emma?" she asked glancing over at her. She still didn't know where they'd found her. Was she in the vault? Had Regina used magic to free her? Had she escaped on her own?

Beside her Mary Margaret sighed and nodded quickly. "She'll be fine. Now that she's with us, she'll be fine."

Probably that statement was supposed to bring her comfort but instead it just made her stomach roll over. She could read between the lines easily enough, "fine with us" implied that she wasn't fine without them and she knew first hand just how terrible a Dark One without a tether could be.

"Do you think she'll be fine here? Around all these people. Shouldn't we go back to Storybrooke, where she's familiar and grounded?"

Mary Margaret let out a strained chuckled and glanced around her. "It would certainly be hard to get out now," she pointed out. The people. Everyone watching them. Yes, running back to the diner now wasn't an option. She should have said something before, right when they arrived not waited for-

"But the good news is they know about Merlin!" Mary Margaret added quickly in an excited tone. "He's the one that we need to free Emma from this Darkness and…look at this place. Maybe for once the world is on our side and we're right where we need to be!" Neal fussed in her arms and she instinctively reached out to touch him and quiet him down.

Mary Margaret was excited and frightened all at the same time. She knew that what she wanted right now more than anything was to go back home, but to go back home with a normal life. With her son and daughter whole and good, just as they always were, her grandson happy. She wanted life to be normal and boring for a while. She knew because she'd so often wanted the same thing. She wanted to fight over who used the last bit of milk and why he couldn't pick up some of his endless projects around the house…not over which lie came first.

"Do you trust them?" she asked quickly, looking at the people still staring and smiling at them herself. "These people from Camelot, do you really trust them?"

Mary Margaret glanced over at her with wide scared eyes. "You don't?!"

No. But she didn't have anything other than a feeling and it was those feelings that had allowed Rumple to get away with so much months ago! She had no reason not to trust them for now, but glancing at Emma and Killian talking, she could think of more than a few reasons to proceed with caution. They knew about Merlin, what would they think if they knew the Dark One was in their midst?

"I think we should be careful. I've heard stories, read about them all my life, but now that I'm here…something just doesn't feel right."

"Your majesty!" Killian called out. "When are we going to start our quest to find Merlin?"

"Well he seems to get right to the point of things for us, doesn't he?" Mary Margaret hissed beside her. Something like that. Killian knew what she knew, every moment they were here, strangers in this foreign land with a devil by their side they were a danger and that made all of them targets. It was best to do this quickly, for Rumple and for Emma's sake.

"Find him?! We don't need to find him we know exactly where he is!"

They knew where Merlin was?

Things felt less and less right by the second, only this time she at least knew why it didn't feel right. Arthur had changed his story. Back at the diner, when they first met and discussed Merlin, he'd told them that they hoped he wouldn't be missing for long because they were supposed to reunite them with Merlin...not the other way around.

"No," she hissed next to Mary Margaret. "I don't trust them at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said things were better and less confusing in 5x02, that they could more easily be excused and overlooked, but then 5x02 starts with one of the biggest blunders in my mind. King Arthur met them at the diner, in 5x01 we saw him personally escort them into the castle at Camelot. So why is he suddenly walking down the stairs on the opposite side of them being introduced in the opening for 5x02?! Really guys? I mean, I get it, it looks good on television, but in the end it just doesn't make sense and really there were probably at least a dozen other ways to introduce Arthur and Guin than doing this. Beyond that, pretty straightforward chapter. There were a lot of conversations all happening at once, a lot of movements, but I did my best to capture all of them or at least parts of all of them. It still feels choppy to me...but hey, so is life!
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	14. Biological and Environmental Changes

She didn't trust them and she couldn't get the message to anyone else in her group, not without arousing suspicion. But at least she'd told Mary Margaret. At least someone knew and with any luck at least she would be on her guard.

As for the rest of them…she hoped they'd all get an opportunity to talk sooner rather than later.

Arthur volunteered to take as many as wanted to go to "meet Merlin", which made her even more uneasy. She didn't know what was going on in Camelot, but she knew that in the last hour she'd been told Merlin was missing, that everyone knew where he was, and now that they could meet him. It just got odder by the second. But fortunately for her Regina also seemed to be untrustworthy of their hosts, or maybe it was just that Regina was naturally untrusting of everyone. Either way the moment Henry stepped forward with the group saying he wanted to go she turned him down.

"Stay with Roland and the others. We'll tell you everything when we get back."

"It'll be quick," Arthur commented. "We won't leave the castle walls."

And now Merlin was still in the castle!

She didn't know what was going on but she knew where she needed to be. Here with the others, those that didn't go out to see Merlin. Of course she wanted to see exactly what was going on too, but she wasn't about to let Henry out of her sight with two small children, defenseless dwarves, and Granny. She'd go stay with him. It was what Neal would have asked of her and staying away from potentially dangerous situations was what Rumple would have wanted of her.

Rumple…she needed to check on him. But not here, not in front of all these people. They liked Merlin but who knew what they'd think of her or their magic.

"Erm, you said something before about rooms…?" she questioned.

"Yes!" Arthur confirmed quickly. "In anticipation of your arrival we set aside an entire wing of the castle for your use and Merlin's own tower of course! We hope that you'll be quite comfortable here and you should feel free to ask any staff for anything you should need. Those of you who don't wish to see Merlin, we'll take you there now."

"Bed time?!" Roland asked, looking excited. A small chuckle echoed through the courtyard as Henry reached down and scooped him up.

"Of course young master," Arthur smiled and for once not even she could find fault in it, even he was easily enchanted by little Roland. "We'll be sure you have the finest feather bed we have to offer and all the cookies and milk your young heart desires."

Roland beamed as he lay his head on Henry's shoulder. "I like it here, let's stay forever!"

Another bout of chuckles and "aw's" followed and on that "happy" note their group separated. Granny took Neal from Mary Margaret and then she made her way with David, Killian, Emma, Regina, and Robin toward a separate door. Guinevere remained behind and smiled softly at those who remained.

"If you'll follow me this way…" She beckoned them forward, up the staircase they'd just come down and through a door at the top. And to think she'd thought she couldn't be any more impressed. The doors opened into an atrium, architecture she hadn't seen in this world, only in books of places in the Land Without Magic. The roof was opened again so that it had the look of a courtyard, but it was clearly living space. Five stories. She counted. Five stories all square in shape with half stone walls that Henry and Roland sided up next to and stared up and then down at.

"Mom and I stayed at a hotel in New York like this once. It was awesome," Henry explained. "Room service, spas, pizza-"

"Anything you wish to have while you are here you may have, Master…"

"Henry! I'm Henry and this is Roland!"

Guinevere smiled. "Master Henry, welcome. We look forward to getting to know all of you better! This is where I leave you, but I trust you'll be in good hands with the servants. I'll see you all tonight at the ball."

The dwarves and Henry all waved good-bye to her as she turned and disappeared behind a curved door at the corner of the floor.

Another servant came forward and showed them to the other side of the floor they were on. They opened a door which revealed a circular set of stairs and they followed them up past one door then two and then finally…

Arthur had said a "wing" had been designated for them, it was actually the entire floor. The servant took them around their new square flat room by room, opening each door as she went. A piano room, a living room, a sitting room, a parlor, a trophy room, a study, and that was all just on one side. Bedrooms were in no short supply. There was room enough for everyone to have their own and more.

"Choose what you would like, the servants will find you!" And just like that they were on their own. Alone. Now what?

"Henry, why don't you find a room and put Roland to bed," she suggested, setting her rose down on a table and taking her jacket off. "The rest of us should probably talk."

"Talk about what?" Doc questioned beside her.

"I don't know about you, but I think it's over who gets the lake view and who gets the forest view," Leroy commented.

A moment later it was as if they were all children again. "Forest!" one called. "Lake!" another shouted. "Hey, I wanted lake!"

"Age before dwarves, if anybody ever wants to eat in my diner again you'll stand aside and let an old woman put her feet up."

She sighed as their voices faded away into nothing but noise and she stepped up to the stone balcony. So much for talking...

It was beautiful here. Each grey stone had been perfectly cut and perfectly placed and yet the walls didn't feel cold or even wet as she knew castles like this could. A large red banner, like what she'd seen on the bridge only bigger, fell over one side of the atrium and a matching, plush, red and gold carpet was perfectly centered on the floor. The wooded furniture was deep and rich and upholstered with scarlet, green, purple, and gold. And the sunlight coming through the open ceiling warmed the castle. Torches were secure in their brackets between every door and every few feet on the atrium walls to ensure everything stayed bright even at night. It was clean. And lovely, and gorgeous…but it wasn't home.

It wasn't her pristine library.

It wasn't her dusty shop.

She looked over her shoulder at the bell jar she'd set down, she confirmed that everyone was still fighting over which room they wanted, and then took it and set off for the piano room that had first been shown to her. She didn't want to hide completely, when the others finally arrived she wanted to speak with them, but at the same time she was weary of the living room and parlor, places people would expect them to meet. They may not be in the Land Without Magic, where bugs could be planted and conversations overheard easily enough, but they were in the Land With Magic, who knew what spells were lurking.

"Show me Rumple," she demanded setting her jar atop a harpsicord. "Oh!" she cried, nearly losing her breath.

Another petal had fallen. Three now. No, four. As if taunting her another had the audacity to magically shimmer off the blossom and float into orbit with the others.

She shook her head and sniffled at the sight. She should never have come here.

"I'm sorry," she cried, sitting down on top of the bench. "If you can hear me I'm sorry I left and I'm doing what I can to get home and fix it just don't-"

A door slammed just outside the music room and she heard Killian's familiar voice speak her mind. "What now?" he asked.

She was out of her bench like a rocket, wiping her eyes and going to them.

"Hey," she whispered when she met them at the door. "I ah…I thought we could talk in here? Away from…anybody?"

"Yeah, sounds great, Regina, can I talk to you, alone?" Emma questioned looking everywhere but them. Eye contact. She was avoiding it. She looked at the floor, the walls, the spaces between them but never actually at them. And instead of waiting for Regina to answer, she merely turned around and walked back through the door she assumed they'd just come from. The group was quiet. For a moment the only sound in the hallway was Emma's footsteps before Regina finally looked at them all for Emma with surprise.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to find Merlin's hideaway. We'll be back later."

Mary Margaret opened her mouth and took a step forward as if to object or invite herself along, but David closed a hand over her elbow and shook his head. "We should talk about our options."

Options. She didn't like that and she especially didn't like it coming from David with that tone of voice, not to mention the distance in Emma's gaze. She couldn't remember her ever behaving like that, and they'd been through some very serious situations together. Driven, certain, stubborn even, that was who Emma was. This…she didn't know this person.

"Is…is Emma alright?" she asked when they finally moved inside the room. "She seems…distracted."

"Of course she's distracted she's…the damn Dark One!" Killian roared slapping a vase off of a table and shattering it against a wall. She held her bell jar closer against her chest.

"It's fine!" Mary Margaret insisted. "It's fine, so long as she's around us she's fine!"

"She's not bloody fine! You saw her out there in that forest!"

"Yes!" Mary Margaret screamed jumping out of her chair. "Yes, I saw her and I know what she almost did and I understand what the monster inside of her is capable of but I also know what my daughter is capable of and that is what we really saw in the forest! She's still in there and I for one am not giving up on her."

"I'd never give up on her, but you have to see-"

"No one is giving up on anybody!" David yelled stepping in between the pair of them. "No one is giving up on Emma and everyone can see she's struggling even when she is around us. So we just have to make sure that she stays by our side and knows that we believe in her, that we know she's our daughter and not the Dark One."

"David is right," Robin stated beside her. "Instead of fighting perhaps we should talk about how we can help her."

"Isn't that why we're all here?" Killian questioned. "Isn't that why we all crossed realms?"

"Then let's focus on helping her," she inserted quickly, finally seizing the opportunity to catch herself up. "Tell me what's going on. Where did they take you? Did you see Merlin?" They were secondary questions of course. What she really wanted to know more than ever was what had happened when they were out in the woods, when they'd retrieved Emma. But obviously whatever happened was still a touchy subject. So for now she settled for the other pressing curiosity. Which of Arthur's stories had been the truth?

"In a manner of speaking," Robin answered for them, the only one besides herself that appeared to have a level head in all of this. "He's here, but he's not in human form."

"Not in human form? What does that mean?"

"He's trapped…" Killian declared, "inside a tree."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why Belle never went with the group to inspect the tree I'll never know. Honestly with the exception of one episode she did almost as much as Granny in Camelot (translation: not very much). But the good news is that holes in canon actually work fairly well for me because it means I am more or less free to give her almost any story line I want! Never fear friends, the writers may have sidelined Belle (and probably will continue to, let's be honest), but I haven't. She remains my priority and I'm going to continue to give her in character development and story lines if it kills me!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your awesome comments on the last chapter. I hope that what I've got in store will live up to your expectations. I figure that if I haven't let you down before then I won't let you down now! Peace and Happy Reading!


	15. The Problem with Roses

Merlin was trapped inside a tree. Or he was a tree. It was difficult to tell which was the truth, not without doing some very thorough research first and speaking at least to Regina to see if she'd felt magic or sensed that there was something special about the tree and it wasn't just an ordinary tree! Merlin had been missing for so long that for all they knew it was just a rumor that grown over time!

And of course there was more. "Regina told them that _she_ was the Savior!"

"I'm sure she was only thinking of Emma's best interests," Robin Hood informed her. "The prophecy states that the Savior with free Merlin from his prison. Emma doing magic at the moment, tainted as it is…it might reveal her."

"They've heard of the Dark One," David informed her. "I think we can all agree that telling them she's here would be a mistake."

"So Regina told them she was the Savior…and Emma didn't stop her?"

"I…don't think she could…" She couldn't stop her? Not she didn't or wouldn't but couldn't…she knew what that sounded like. "Emma gave the dagger to Regina in the woods, to keep her in check. I didn't see it but…she certainly kept her hand tucked away when she told them."

"You think she commanded her not to say anything!"

"If it were in Emma's best interest…she would," Robin confirmed.

"That would certainly explain what Emma wanted to talk to her about," Mary Margaret added.

Yes. That would certainly warrant a good conversation perhaps that was why Regina had suggested they have it far from here. Merlin's Tower…

That was were Regina had suggested they go, the place they wanted to look for. It was the one place, aside from this wing, that Arthur had said they'd set aside for them and now she knew why. If their story was true Merlin was just outside, trapped within a tree, and they were the ones to free him. Of course they would assume his books held the key to that, he was the most powerful and mysterious wizard who had ever lived! And somewhere in this castle his tower sat intact and full of answers.

Answers.

She held the bell jar closer to her chest as she realized…the faster they freed Merlin, the faster they could help Emma, and the faster they could go home; she could go home to Rumple.

"I'm uh…I'm going to go look for them," she stated suddenly, unaware they'd been talking about something or other without her. "They were going to go find Merlin's tower," she explained. "I may as well get started."

"Started with what?" Killian questioned

"Obviously after hundreds of years Merlin isn't going to get himself out of that tree. His tower might be the closest thing I have to my library, maybe if I look I can figure out how to free him."

"Now?" Mary Margaret questioned. "The suns going down, there's a ball-"

"I'd…I'd rather look into this," she reasoned. Somehow the idea of going to a ball, knowing that petal by petal her rose was wilting, it made her feel sick to her stomach.

She left before anyone could say anything else to stop her.

Finding the tower wasn't easy. Arthur had said it was there for them to explore so she assumed that it was somehow connected to their "wing". But towers were often exactly that, small rooms at the very top of winding staircases. There were four corners in their wing, which left four towers to climb up into. It was a lot of stairs for often no reward. At the top of the first tower she was greeted with a lovely sitting room that led outside so she could see the entire Kingdom. She was sure it would have been fascinating to look at, if she didn't feel like she was already in a hurry. Back down she went. At the top of the second tower she found lots of books and a desk, a study it appeared. For a moment she allowed herself to be excited that she'd actually found it, but when she examined the books she found that they were all relatively recent additions to this place, in perfect condition, and because she knew the language fluently she knew that the books were actually about history and not magic.

Finally, as she climbed to the top of the third tower she knew before she even opened the chamber door that she'd found the right one simply because it felt different. It was hard to explain but the door itself…it was ordinary. Nothing about it seemed spectacular or dazzling like the rest of the castle, it didn't take her breath away, and to be completely honest it looked a bit shoddy. The door scraped a bit on the stones as she opened it and stepped inside the circular room. This was it. Regina and Emma were missing, whether they'd found it and left or never made it this far, she didn't know, but for now she was alone in a room of potions and books and musty dusty shelves. Dust aside, it was beautiful. But not in the same way that the rest of the castle was. Here it was as if time stood still and the room was warded against silly things like age and pleasantries.

It was a workshop, a workshop not unlike Rumple's tower had been only…

She picked a book that was lying open up off the table. The pages of paper crinkled dangerously in her hands and she gently blew on the surface, raising a cloud of dust she had to jump away from before she sneezed. Yes, it was exactly like Rumple's tower had been, only older, much, much older from the looks of it.

The writing in the book, she could nearly read it. It was clear over time language had developed and changed and shifted, but she recognized most of the words, even if they were in a different order. The magic…it was different, but fortunately for her she'd spent most of her time over the last year learning all about magic. She wasn't a practitioner of it of course, she wasn't magical, though she could do little things with items that were magical, but maybe it was good that she wasn't in this case. She was a blank slate. She had no preferences for magic, no values for it, no preset favoritism or methods. All she wanted to do was learn about it in the most innocent way possible. This might work.

But…how long would it take.

Gingerly she set the book back where it belonged, because if it was her and she'd just escaped from prison she'd want everything back exactly where she left it, then she turned to the bell jar she'd sat down on a table.

She stared at it for a moment, preparing perhaps for what was to come before she finally gathered her courage and nodded. "Show him to me."

One petal. Two petals…three…four…five…six. Six petals total. Six petals gone and they hadn't even been away a full day! How was this possible? He'd been fine all night, he'd been steady, she'd kept perfect track of his heartbeat herself! And when she'd given her the rose this morning-not even early morning, it had been late morning-it had been strong and healthy. How had he deteriorated so much, so fast? Was it because she wasn't there? Was he aware of it somehow? Or was it just the magic?

It was possible. Some magic took time to fully work. Was it possible that this was how he'd been the whole time and everything up until now had just been the link establishing itself? Six petals…had he been this bad when she'd left his side. If she'd known she never would have-

"So this is Merlin's Tower!" she glanced over at the door and saw Mary Margaret looking around with wide eyes. Neal was settled in her arms and she was wearing a white dress more appropriate for this realm than their own.

"I uh…I assume so," she confirmed glancing around with little interest. She couldn't help it. All her focus was on the bell jar before her.

"It's remarkable really…do you realize twenty-four hours we had hardly known about him and now we're standing in his home, reading things he wrote, standing where he stood."

"Oh…" Honestly, no, she hadn't realized it. Truly it was remarkable, that fact wasn't lost on her it was just that compared to everything else in her life right now, like the wilting rose concealed behind foggy glass, it mattered very little to her. "It's amazing. We couldn't have been luckier really than to stumble upon this place. Everything we need…hopefully it's at our fingertips now. Hopefully this trip will be short." Hopefully.

"So then…maybe, since it's all here and ready for us…maybe you could take a break and come to the ball for a bit?"

Ah. That was why she'd come. It was in the tone of her voice, that was what she'd initially come here for. Not Merlin, or Neal, or Emma. Her. For a moment she felt a wave of anger wash over her at the suggestion but then…it wasn't often people came to ask for her. Just her. They came to ask her for help and babysitting and question her about magic but check on her…that never happened. Subject aside, it felt nice for a change.

But it didn't change anything.

"I don't think I can really afford to lose time right now, but you do look lovely."

"I miss the dresses you made for me before Neal was born. This is nice but those were more comfortable." She felt herself blush at the compliment. Making dresses. She'd nearly forgotten how much she loved to do that! When was the last time she'd made something of her very own? Not since Will, or when she'd been happily married, not before either, during the Zelena fiasco. The Enchanted Forest then…it had been a long time.

"Perhaps when we're back in Storybrooke I'll find the time to make something for you again," she smiled as she stepped forward and picked Neal up out of her arms for her. It was just something to do, something else to look at and make faces at besides her bell jar.

"Belle, why don't you go to the ball with us?" Mary Margaret prodded after a moment. "It's just one night, if Emma's willing to wait one night for a ball then can't all of us?"

"No," she pointed out, wondering how they all forgot so quickly, so often! "It's not just Emma that is waiting for something. Rumple is back home, he's there without me hovering somewhere between life and death and one night…things can change in only a few hours. I need to get back to him just as much as Emma needs help."

"But Rumple is fine," Mary Margaret argued. "The rose was perfect and healthy when you showed it."

"It was! It was perfect and healthy when I showed it to you this morning in Regina's office but now…" She turned back to her bell jar, balancing Neal carefully on one arm she moved it to the table before Mary Margaret. "Show me Rumple." Mary Margaret didn't flinch as the fog melted away and revealed the wilting rose with six petals floating around its base. She just looked at it. And looked at it. And looked at it until the glass fogged over it once more.

"I think that it's settling," she explained when she didn't say anything. "I think the link took longer to establish and it's just now beginning to show how he's truly been this entire time."

"Well that's good isn't it?"

"Good?! How is something like that good?!"

"Because you know that he's stable. You were with him all night, if this shows how bad he's been and it hasn't changed then it won't get much worse. It'll stay this way once it's done."

She hadn't thought of that. Really it was probably true but that didn't change the fact that if it had been this way hours ago when Regina told her she had to choose…she might not have made the choice she did.

"I can understand your hesitation to step away for a few hours, but…look at this place. It's going to take days to sort through it all! You can't give up eating and sleeping and this ball…I don't know if David is right and we can trust these people or if you are right and we can't, but until we know, until we get home, it's safest to play by their rules. Not doing what they want us to do, not going were they want us to go…we're going to need them to be on our side. This is one way to play by their rules and not our own."

"Are you saying you believe me? That you think there is something going on?"

"I don't know," she answered. "For now I'm saying-asking you to help us and yourself and go to the ball so that we at least look like a united front. I don't know if I trust them or not but right now I know that I don't like the idea of too many of us being in too many different places as once. Please do this."

She sighed as she jiggled Neal in her arms and glanced down at her fogged over bell jar. Mary Margaret didn't know if they were to be trusted, she didn't know either but she knew that she did distrust them. She didn't exactly know the extent of that distrust or what they'd do to her if she "broke the rules" as Mary Margaret suggested, but she knew that she couldn't risk doing anything that might lead her away from Storybrooke for too long. If playing by the rules and going to a ball was what she needed to do to get home…then so be it.

She gave Neal back to Mary Margaret and carried her bell jar down the stairs with her, trying to at least pretend like she didn't feel she was dragging herself there the entire way. Mary Margaret showed her to the room that had been set aside for her since she hadn't claimed one herself earlier and almost instantly it was invaded by two women who had arrived with clothing. It was as if the clock had turned back for a moment as she sat before a mirror and watched someone else pin her hair up perfectly and pinch color into her cheeks for her. And when it was finally done, when they were gone and she looked into the mirror and saw not herself but her mother, the person she imagined her mother had always hoped she'd become but she'd fled from so long ago…she nearly burst into tears right then.

"Oh Neal…how did we get here again?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moments Taken is definitely the fiction of other relationships. Not only does Belle get a few good conversations with Henry and Merlin in but also a few with Mary Margaret. I like this one. It doesn't break character for Mary Margaret as she is asking her for something but it also is a nice little moment between them that shows a bit of friendship. That's possibly what irritates me the most right now about the show. People make sacrifices for their friends, it's entirely possible that Belle and Mary Margaret would behave as such but we don't see any inkling of friendship, ever! So I had to build it. If not a full blown friendship then at least one where they are comfortable with each other. That's kind of the meaning behind Belle taking the baby all the time. I've got a friend like Mary Margaret who recently had a kid and one of the best things about that relationship, I've learned, is that I don't need her to tell me when she wants me to take him out of her arms or ask permission, usually I just do it. When she's tired or exhausted or the baby is fussing...Belle is a caring person, it's in her nature to give of herself before taking for herself and she shows that even by taking Neal out of Mary Margaret's arms when she doesn't know she needs it. It's sad...but some relationships are like that. My opinion is that it shows Belle's strength, not her weakness.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	16. Is The Flower Half Wilted or Half Bloomed

She supposed in the end she did know what she'd gotten into. After all a ball was not an unfamiliar thing to her. She'd been to dozens of them in her time. What she hadn't done in her time was go to them as anything less than the center of attention. In her youth even balls in celebrations of weddings, where brides and grooms should have been the ones on display, she always felt that all eyes and ears were on her and her family. It wasn't so tonight.

When the sun went down and she walked down the spiral staircase with the others they were held back in the anteroom at the top of the stair case and lined up. Arthur and Guinevere smiled at them and were introduced with a loud shout and on the other side of the doors she could hear King Arthur telling the guests, however many that were there that this night they had been brought together by something special, someone special. Tonight Merlin's prophesy had been fulfilled and a Savior had finally arrived in Camelot to free him from his terrible prison. But of course that was all something to be addressed when the sun rose, for tonight they would drink and feast and of course dance!

The attendant in the back lined them up according to their gender first and their importance second, she assumed. Men went first and all were addressed by their Storybrooke names and, much to Leroy's pleasure, an additional "sir" added to it.

"Sir Leory!" he boasted next to Granny. "About time I get my due!"

"Anything is better than 'that crazy lady who owns the diner'," Granny confirmed. First Leory and Happy, then Henry and Killian. Robin and David were next and she was surprised to hear the "sir" in front of David's name. Storybrooke names or not, somehow she assumed that David and Mary Margaret would at least claim their crown here. Though, maybe it was for the best if they didn't. Her talk with Mary Margaret was not far from her mind, maybe it was far better for them to just be mysterious individuals who had appeared out of a cyclone. They were with Regina after all, who was currently playing the role of "savior". It would probably be easier to believe if they didn't know she used to be known as "The Evil Queen".

And so on they went down the stairs. "Lady Lucus", "Lady Belle", and then from behind her two women who had apparently refused to enter alone.

"Presenting Lady Emma and Lady Mary Margaret!" She turned back to look at the mother daughter pair, wondering if anyone else in this room knew their true relationship, or if they just assumed they were inseparable sisters instead. Hand in hand they descended the stairs to the same applause the rest of them had, except for her own. She couldn't clap. It was no one's fault but her own of course. The attendant at the top of the stairs had tried to take the cloudy glass jar from her, but she hadn't allowed it. Six petals gone. As far as she was concerned, until she was safely back in Storybrooke this jar wasn't going to leave her side!

"Presenting the Savior!" The cry that ran through the room and the applause that followed forced her to look up from the depths of the glass to find a Regina that she certainly had never seen before, not even in all their time together in the Enchanted Forest.

Regina was always stern and stone faced. When her temper wasn't getting in the way she preferred to keep her head low and avoid contact and attention. For that matter, the Regina she'd known then enjoyed dressing in black and nothing else! This Regina…she was almost stunning. Her light colored gown, the slight blush on her cheeks, the way her hair was softly pulled up behind her head instead of tied into a tight bun, it all made her look years younger in a way. Like a teenager experiencing life for the first time instead of an Evil Queen that had stolen her heart and held it as ransom only days ago. Dare she even think that for once the Evil Queen looked truly and perfectly happy?

She shook her head in absolute shock. Weeks ago, when she'd been happy and newly married and Regina was the exact opposite because of Robin and Marian who would have ever guessed the fates would twist their destinies so drastically. Was it a good thing? Should that give her hope that everything could shift again and give her one more chance? She gazed down at the jar in the crook of her arm. Did she want another chance?

"And now friends of Camelot!" Arthur shouted from the top of the stairs with Guinevere on her arm. "Let the ball begin!"

It appeared that no matter where she went or what status she held a ball was a ball. At the pronouncement that all who were important had arrived girls gave high pitched squeals, music began to float in the air, men stepped up to young women in flowing gowns and asked to dance. She moved off to the side as the place she was standing was soon filled with dozens of couples turning about the floor in a dance she hadn't done since she was young and frankly didn't wish to repeat. She'd liked dancing as a youth and she was fairly good at it she supposed, it would have been improper of her not to excel in it after all, but the memory of her last dance, the dance she'd had on her honeymoon, the heavy gown that dripped from her skin and the way she and it suddenly felt weightless every time her handsome prince had pulled her into his arms and lifted her off the floor…

She turned away from the dancers before her. Her memories were just too painful when compared with their smiling faces. She'd been so happy with him in that one moment. Too happy to speak properly or even cry. And yet…had he been deceiving her then? Had he known about Zelena and Marian? The dagger. Had it been hers in that moment or his? Was it ever really hers? Was he? She wished she knew. She wished that she knew a lot of things. She wished she knew what had gone wrong in their relationship, why he hadn't trusted her, she wished she knew what he'd done behind her back and at the same time she wished she knew less than she did. She wished that she knew when Regina had taken her heart and what she'd done with it and she wished that she knew what Rumple had said to Will to convince him to help him get it back and what they'd said as they'd worked together. But she didn't know any of that. Not really. All she really knew for sure was…

"Show him to me," she requested sadly, watching the haziness clear and the rose show it's unchanged wilting. Unchanged. Unchanged in the last two hours. Maybe she'd been right and he was finally stabilizing. Small favors.

"You know what I see when I see that rose?" She glanced up to see that Leroy had come to stand beside her and her precious jar when she hadn't notice and he was saying…the rose? Did Leroy even know what it was? Probably. Small crowd, certainly they'd all had time to talk and even those who hadn't been in the Mayor's office had noticed she had it with her. Probably they all knew what it did by now, what it was. So she waited as Leroy squinted through the clear glass at it and the six lonesome petals floating besides it. "Hope," he finally concluded.

"Hope?" she questioned. Hope?! How on earth was there any hope in this…this…ticking time bomb of death?! Maybe she was wrong, maybe he really didn't understand what this was because if he did surely "hope" would not be the word that came to mind when he looked into it! "But every petal that falls brings Rumple closer to death!" And she was here…so far away the distance couldn't be measured.

"Every petal still on the stem is another chance to save him," he rebutted quickly.

Every petal left was a chance to save him.

A chance to save him.

For the first time since she'd seen the wilted stem and the floating petals she allowed herself to look up, not at the rose as a whole but at the bud blooming on the stem. It was rich. And healthy. It's color was vibrant and magical and yes she knew that at any moment another of them could fall and make seven fallen petals…but there were more than seven petals that made up that rose. There was probably more than two dozen or three dozen on that rose! Six petals compared to that…there was hope in the rose. Yes, it was a ticking time bomb, but it hadn't exploded yet. It wasn't even on it's final countdown.

Love is hope and hope is love. She'd once believed in the former enough to tell it to Leroy ages ago when she probably should have hated Rumpelstiltskin and Leroy had told her the latter a year ago when she'd been missing her dead Dark One, long before they'd been married, long before they'd had that first dance. She'd believed it then, and now…maybe he wasn't the only one to have changed since that last dance. Maybe he wasn't the only one who would have a hard time getting back to who he used to be. Could she love and believe in him as she once had in this new cynical form? Time would tell but for now…

"Thanks Leroy," she breathed looking back out over the group of dancers and realizing that they didn't hurt as bad as they had a moment ago. Maybe, just maybe, she needed to get back to who she once was too. Maybe now was the time to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, theme of MT and eventually MC&U can anyone guess it yet? Anyone. Bueller? Bueller? Yes! You in the front! Absolutely! You've got it! Major theme here for Belle is going to be self discovery. We all complained that she's out of character that she's changed in some pretty drastic ways so something I wanted to do this summer was show that by showing her questioning who she has become and if she's going to be this way forever or if she can become who she once was. A major component of that? Weeeeell it's coming up in a few chapters, I don't want to ruin the surprise but I think you are going to enjoy the way that I take you through her psyche. It's one of my favorite things about these two fictions and if I do say so myself my favorite conversation, my favorite chapter of both of these fictions will involve the conclusion of Belle's self discovery. The problem? It's the second to last chapter so we've got about...four months until we get there. But never fear, those chapters are coming up throughout the series. And in the meantime, enjoy the little piece of happy you've got coming at you in the next couple of chapters. There's a cute Henry and Belle moment and...wait for it...Regina vs. Belle. In other words these next few chapters are everything that A&E didn't give you.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your awesome comments on the last chapter! They are much appreciated! Your support makes me absolutely thrilled and encourages me to keep posting during the troubling season. But truly, I do hope you'll enjoy what's to come! It should be amazing. Peace and Happy Reading!


	17. Dancing, Watching, Waiting

"Would you…um…would you care to dance?" she asked, smiling when she realized that she was blushing at the thought of finally being the one to ask someone to dance. She'd always wanted to and probably would have if it wouldn't have been so scandalous in her former life. But now no one would hear and Leroy…

He was the perfect partner, the perfect gentlemen as they took the dance floor with the other couples. Her feet remembered the steps as if she'd practiced only yesterday, though of course the fact that it was a slower dance probably helped. And Leroy was just about her height so it made it easy to look over him when necessary, find her frosted bell jar where she'd left it on the wall to be sure it was fine and dance on.

It was fun. It was more fun than she'd had in a long time. In fact, now that she thought about it, she probably hadn't smiled like this since the morning after the Curse of Shattered Sight had broken and he'd convinced her they were going to New York City. That had been the last good day in her opinion. But now…

"I haven't seen a smile on your face in a long time," Leroy commented as they finished one dance and moved flawlessly into the next.

"It's been a long time since I had a good dance partner."

"You're just lucky it was me this time and Doc chose to watch the kids and Zelena, otherwise he'd have stepped on your toes the entire time." She laughed, truly laughed, through the next few steps. He was trying to distract her. She couldn't see her face but she imagined that every time she thought of that bell jar and exactly what it was that awaited her in Storybrooke the hopelessness showed on her face. Leroy was a good distraction, a good friend though she had a feeling that Doc might disagree at the moment. At least Leroy had been honest. Perhaps a little too honest, but honesty was a nice change from-

"Regina!" Robins voice suddenly called out from somewhere. Someone screamed, Leroy pushed her back to the side as a crowd cleared before them and she did her best to find her friends. It wasn't hard.

All of the sudden in the middle of the ball it was like a schoolyard brawl had broken out. A circle of bystanders stood back and watched as two people, two men fought one another. She heard the clattering of swords against the floor and finally when she finally got a good look at them her heart stopped when she realized that one of them was Robin Hood. The other, the man that he was fighting…she couldn't make him out.

The others, where were the others?!

She looked frantically around the circle and located them easily enough right where she expected them to be. Regina stood helpless at the side, watching and looking as though she was prepared to throw a fireball, but couldn't because she might injure Robin. Close by Killian held Emma's outstretched hand back and appeared to be yelling something she couldn't make out over the noise. Mary Margaret and David…

David. In a flash David was there, in the circle with a sword drawn. She didn't know where he'd come from but he appeared to have come at just the right time! The man on top of Robin reached for a sword of his own and didn't appear to see the oncoming threat. In the blink of an eye David disarmed him with a single stroke. The man reared back and gave David the perfect opportunity to run him through with his sword, before kicking him off his sword…before kicking his body off the sword.

"Robin!" Regina finally cried, sprinting to the man as David formally disarmed him. But it was useless, she could see that already. The man was still. Stiller than Rumpelstiltskin the last she saw him. He was dead. Their very first night in Camelot, trying to play by "their rules" as Mary Margaret had put it and a man was already dead! But not out of spite or anger, it wasn't murder it was self defense. Robin-

She could hear him moan and wraith there on the floor as Regina sat down beside him. He was alive. But she could also see that he wasn't fine. The extent of his injuries was difficult to identify from her angle but she saw the only thing that mattered. She saw blood.

"Leroy…" Blood wasn't good, none of this was good and her eyes frantically searched the perimeter of the circle until she located the final member of their party. Finally she found Henry on the other side of the ballroom with a girl his own age, jaw hanging open and gaping at what had just happened before him. "Get Henry," she insisted before turning, finding her bell jar and scooping it up. They had to stay together. In the midst of tragedy and emergency like this, when they were strangers and tension in the room around them was so high she felt like most people were going to turn and run at any moment she wanted Henry by her side.

"Robin!" Regina hollered again as every eye in the room stared at her. "Robin stay awake! Stay with me!"

"What happened here?!" Arthur demanded pushing his way into the center of the circle with the Robin and Regina.

"One of your knights attacked, without reason and without warning. The Savior would have been killed if not for our intervention and now one of our own is injured!" David declared.

"Well you are the Savior, are you not?! Can you not simply heal him?!" Arthur demanded taking the scene in.

Regina's mouth dropped open and wobbled there for a few moments of speechlessness and it was easy for her to understand why. Yes, Savior or not Regina could heal him just as she'd done with her knee. But Regina's magic wasn't like Emma's magic. She didn't know what these people thought that she was capable of but revealing her magic to them here was not the way to figure it out or to test her abilities. For all they knew they'd planned for this to test her. Oh she didn't like that thought. Not one bit because the more it moved through her mind the more she feared that was actually what was going on. Oh where was-

"Grandma?"

"Henry!" she exclaimed as Henry, Granny, and Leroy appeared by her side. She gathered the boy to her side as Robin let out another controlled groan despite his careful breathing.

"She can!" she shouted letting Henry go and stepping forward. She didn't like this, she didn't like this one bit and the only thing to do was change the rules in their favor. "She can heal him but she needs some place private to do it!"

Regina looked down at him, then up at Arthur with fire in her eyes suddenly realizing that she'd provided the way out, the answer. "Please, we need space."

"Then you shall have it," Arthur permitted. "The tower, just there, it's the closest thing to privacy we can provide!"

"David help me with him!" Regina demanded without a second thought. There was a flurry of action surrounded by an eerie feeling of inaction. Their small group moved. Mary Margaret, David, Killian, Emma, every available hand they had ran forward to lift Robin off the ground while the people of Camelot watched with wide eyes. No muscles moved. No hands twitched. They just stared as they carried him off and the rest of them followed.

The tower was cramped, nothing but a few chairs and a table on the bottom besides the stairs that led up another couple of stories. "Up the stairs!" David insisted as she held the door open.

"Henry stay here!" she called grabbing the boy by the hand before he could go up the stairs after the others.

"It's Robin Hood! It's my mom's-"

"It's your mothers problem and she needs space to solve it! Stay here!" she insisted before he could argue. She turned to look at the others, taking stock of who was here and who wasn't. If they couldn't all be together at the very least they would all be accounted for. "Zelena, she's-"

"In Regina's quarters, still mute, still playing the servant, still got the cuff on," Granny answered.

"And Doc?"

"As far as we know he's will Roland and the baby in Snow's quarters," Happy confirmed.

Above them a door at the top of the tower slammed and the noises of footsteps and yelling that she's been trying to talk over muted. They must have gone into the top room, like it was in Merlin's tower.

"Now what?" Henry asked staring at the ceiling as if he could see through the stone.

Now what? She knew, but she liked it probably about as much as Henry would. With a sigh she stepped forward, locked the tower door, sealing the crowd out, and protecting them inside.

"Now we wait."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the realization that everyone just kind of up and left half their group out in the middle of the dance floor while Robin was dying was just a little too much for my taste. Honestly, I get it, these people are contracted with them and they've got to give them screen time but this was just ridiculous. They should have remained in Storybrooke, the Nevengers should have been the ones to go to Camelot, maybe then accounting for all these people all the time wouldn't have been so difficult.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	18. Family Matters

And so they waited, but only barely.

And that surprised her.

When Regina had healed her knee, when Rumple healed her shoulder, her leg, her voice, whenever she'd witnessed any kind of healing it took only seconds! Not minutes.

Yes, for the amount of blood she'd seen on Robin Hood it was certainly different than an injured knee or a small clean gunshot wound, but she didn't know why it was taking so long. One minute, then two minutes, then long enough for her to check her rose, then-

From above them they finally heard the sound of a door opening and then…talking?

They all held their breath as they listened to the tones. But there were no tones. Just one tone, one voice, one person speaking, no one responding.

Emma?

"Mom?" Henry exclaimed after a moment. Standing up and looking up the stairs. "Mom!" he called. "Mom what happened?" The footsteps on the stairs suddenly quickened and within second Emma appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"It's fine," she assured them reaching for the lock on the door. "It's fine, everything is fine!"

"Fine? Emma what about Robin what-"

Emma opened the door to leave, but instead was pushed back by Arthur, who pushed his way into their space with a second knight. Emma pulled Henry into her arms and for a moment they all stared at the King before he turned to them.

"Your friend? How is he? Was the Savior successful?"

"Yes," Emma whispered after a moment. "He's upstairs, resting with the others."

Arthur sighed with relief. "That is wonderful news. Truly I am so sorry that your first night here was marred by such a dreadful event. Please know this is not how we usually conduct business here in Camelot. If I may…I wish to see the heroic young man and apologize in person?"

There was quiet in the tower as Arthur looked at Emma, then her, then Emma again as if waiting for permission. She simply stared back at him. It was his castle, his kingdom, and she supposed that it would have been polite but somehow she didn't feel like it was coming from a polite place. "Um…sure, they're just…up the stairs…" but Emma hadn't even finished the sentence before Arthur and his knight moved up the stairs.

Emma stayed where she was. No one moved downstairs and she had a thought that she might not be alone in thinking that Arthur and his men were untrustworthy at the moment. Everyone alone in this room had certainly acted as though he was hiding something.

"Mom," Henry finally spoke when Arthur was gone. "Mom what happened? Did mom heal Robin?"

"She…he's fine Henry," Emma muttered after. "He's…I'll be right back." Without true excuse and avoiding eye contact once again Emma ascended the stares with barely a blink and somehow it chilled her skin.

"Would someone tell me what the hell is happening?!" Granny drawled clearly irritated. She couldn't necessarily say that she blamed her for her confusion.

Emma certainly wasn't Emma, she understood that! But when Rumple had been the Dark One he hadn't acted this strange or…eerie was really the only word she could think to describe it. Her actions were robotic, her sentences were broken, and she was clearly distracted. She was certainly not taking to the curse well and all things considered…that wasn't good.

"I think I'm going to find out," she informed them. "Henry stay here!" she ordered climbing the stairs herself only to find herself face to face halfway up with King Arthur himself! That was fast. And so was this encounter. He quickly excused himself again, moved around her, and continued down the stairs. For a moment she considered following them and asking him what was going on, but her distrust of him pushed her forward, up the stairs where the scene that greeted her only made more questions appear in her mind.

Robin Hood was alright. He was up and sitting on the table in the center of the small round room.

Emma was not alright. "I can't!" she gasped nearly in tears as Killian stepped forward for her. She only pushed him away. "I can't! I'm sorry, I can't do this! I can't live with this!"

"Emma!" Killian called as she ran out the door. "Emma wait!" he called before following her down the stairs.

"What is happening?" she burst out. She simply couldn't hold it in anymore. There was too much going on that she couldn't understand! "What's wrong with Emma?"

"Actually I think that's a question you can answer!" Regina commented mysteriously.

"What?!"

"Emma…she saved Robin," Mary Margaret explained, making her eyes go wide.

"Emma saved Robin! With-with her magic!"

"The sword what's-his-face used to try and kill me was enchanted. I couldn't save Robin but Emma could-"

"With magic tainted with darkness?!"

"Trust me it didn't exactly go according to plan," Regina commented. "I've never seen any kind of magic effect someone like that. Dark or light."

She squeezed her jar closer to her chest and rubbed her forehead trying to stave off the headache she was sure was on its way. She'd forgotten why exactly she hated to be away from the action. Having things explained last minute was never clear. "What are you talking about?! Talk to me. How did the magic effect Emma?!"

"She was talking to…nothing!" David finally explained. "She went to use magic and got distracted by something against the wall there. She walked over, stared, talked, had a conversation with nobody before finally coming back and healing Robin just as planned."

"She kissed Hook like there was no tomorrow then left right away," Regina finished. "She didn't say why…just left and never told us who she was talking to."

"I don't suppose that's normal?" Mary Margaret inserted glancing over at her almost hopefully. "Rumpelstiltskin, did he ever…"

"Talk to himself?" she clarified. Mary Margaret offered a single nod. "No," she answered honestly. There was one time that might qualify talking to himself, the moment that she'd kissed him and he'd spoken into the mirror but that was the only time she could remember and even now she was nearly certain that he hadn't been talking to himself but communicating with someone, probably Regina. Beyond that moment… "No, I've never heard him talk to himself."

There was no response. What were they going to say? At the moment as far as the Dark One went she was the best expert that they had and her inability to confirm a "symptom" wasn't comforting and it wasn't profitable. It was a dead end.

"Well…what about Arthur? What did he want?"

"Nothing really," Robin inserted when no one else did. "He took our side against Percival and is going to let us stay."

"They know who I am now," Regina added.

"Who you were," Mary Margaret corrected. "You're not that person anymore and it doesn't matter because they believe in second chances just as much as we do. They still think you're the Savior, they still think you can free Merlin, and as far as they're concerned you're the one who healed Robin, we can't forget to keep our story straight with them."

"What you…you don't trust them?" David questioned looking down at his wife.

Mary Margaret sighed and closed her eyes finally looking tired and exhausted. They'd already had this conversation, and really, when was the last time any of them had really had a good nights sleep? "I don't know David…I just think we need to be on our guard. Especially now with Emma."

"Why stay?" she questioned quickly.

"What?" David questioned.

"Why stay here?" she responded hopefully. "I mean, Rumple was always at his best when he was around me, Neal, and Henry, the more of us he had, the better the relationship was, the better off he was. Emma is deteriorating here. She needs something familiar, something to ground her! We came here to get Emma, we have Emma, now let's go back to Storybrooke, where she can be somewhere she's familiar, around people she's familiar with. We can research from there and Camelot and the Apprentice's Want will still be here if we need to come back. Why stay when we don't even trust the people we're staying with?!"

"Are you serious?" Regina blanched. "I would have thought you of all people would understand why! We can't go back to Storybrooke, not when Merlin is here, not when the answer is here!"

"Regina is right," Mary Margaret confirmed. "Going back to Storybrooke is a short term solution for a long term problem. The solution is here. We know where Merlin is, half the mystery is solved, we just have to free him from the tree!"

"You have all of Merlin's books at your disposal in his tower. I know it's not your precious library but surely even you have to understand that it'll be easier to help from here than there!"

"Help?! _You_ are asking _me_ for help?!"

"You've got to be kidding me I thought we were passed all this!"

"We were until two days ago!"

"Now, wait, hold on, now I'm confused!" David inserted quickly. "What is going on here? What are you talking about? Two days ago?"

"Ask her," she insisted staring Regina in the eye. Her heart was racing. In all honesty she had no idea how they'd gotten here all of a sudden, to having this conversation when they'd been talking about Emma only moments ago. She thought that she was passed this, that she'd be fine with it, that she could work with Regina in the middle of all this and yet here they were, having this fight, with David demanding an answer, and all she knew was that what had happened wasn't her sin to confess.

"Regina, what is she talking about?"

Regina was quiet for a moment and stared at her like she had when she'd been when she used to look in on her in the asylum but this time she didn't shrink from her or step away. "She took my heart," she explained when Regina wouldn't.

"What?!"

"Regina?!"

"'The leverage' she had over Rumple when she went to save Robin, that was it! Me!"

"No! No, it wasn't like that! I never intended to hurt you, I wasn't going to hurt you!"

"You took my heart!"

"As leverage!" she insisted. "Nothing more, it was a prop. I needed to use it as a prop! To get the one formerly known as the Dark One to back off!"

"Then why not ask for help?"

"I did!" Regina yelled, her voice echoing off the walls. "I did ask you for help!"

"How convenient for you that I don't remember."

"Because I wiped your memories. If I'd had my way I would have returned your heart and you'd have never known it was gone. I did it to help you."

"It seems like you only helped yourself."

"Maybe I did. But…but I was desperate! You want to know the truth? You want to know what really happened when I asked you for help?"

She shrugged because she didn't need her to say it, she already knew! "I refused."

"No! You didn't. Quite the opposite actually."

She…she hadn't refused her? She…had she given Regina her heart? Willingly? Had she been in on the plan all this time? "I gave you my heart."

"No," Regina corrected. "Of course not, you rejected that plan but not before I could take what I wanted."

"Regina!"

"But!" she shouted over Mary Margaret. "Even after I had your heart you offered to help, to find another way." That certainly sounded like her. Though she could only imagine that she'd probably done something like that over the fear of being killed…she knew that the betrayal also stung so bad because she knew she would have asked Regina if she could help. But that was then and this was now.

"You didn't let me help. I could have figured out something."

"I know you could have. Which is why we need you now. We aren't going to get Merlin out of that tree in Storybrooke and I'm not going to get him out on my own because despite what they believe, I am not the Savior."

"So you need me to save you? Again?"

"You figured out Zelena's plan in the Enchanted Forest," Mary Margaret said. She glared at Regina for a moment and then stepped forward. "You figured out her plan, you figured out how to break the spell of shattered sight, you figured out how to get the fairies out of the Sorcerer's hat. I know why you want to go back to Storybrooke. I know you care for Emma and know you think Storybrooke will be good for her and it probably would on some level but we both know that there is more to it than that."

Yes. Yes there was more to wanting to go back to Storybrooke than helping Emma. She knew that too. But she also knew what they didn't, what Leroy had helped her to discover only…had that really only been minutes ago?

"I do want to go back," she confirmed. "I want to go back and I want to see Rumpelstiltskin for myself but I also know...I also know that I don't know what comes next. I was in love with Rumpelstiltskin and that means I was in love with the Dark One too but I don't know if I ever liked him and now I want him to wake up at the same time I don't want him to wake up because I don't know who he'll be when he wakes but worst of all I don't know who I'll be if he wakes up. I don't know if we can be in love again or…just or…

"But I know that I want to be who I was before, when I did love him, when I believed that anything was possible and could happen because of love. When I wanted to help, when I wanted to be part of the group, when I knew that I was important."

"You are important," Robin inserted. "We can't do something like this without you."

She nodded. "So I'll stay, I'll agree to staying. On one condition." She took a deep breath, pulled the bell jar out from the crook of her elbow, and set it on the table. "Show me." The rose revealed itself to everyone in the room for the first time since the Mayor's office. There wasn't a dramatic gasp as she secretly expected but there was perfect silence as they all stared. Maybe that was worse.

"It's wilting…" David finally breathed for them.

"It is," she confirmed with a small smile because until she'd had that conversation with Leroy that would have been the first thing she noticed too. But not anymore. "But it's not dead yet. I'll agree to stay and help on the condition that if the rose does begin to die, truly die and not just wilt…everyone will agree to go home. Or…or at the very least agree to send me home. I know I can't ask you to go but-"

"If it starts to die we go back together and we fight it together," David interrupted. "We'll get through Emma and whatever becomes of Rumpelstiltskin, like we always do, like a family, dysfunctional or not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen...the Belle Regina face off we never got. Because despite the fact that A&E can't keep their story straight I can and I was unhappy to just let this issue between Belle and Regina sit there out in the open completely unresolved and unacknowledged. Does this conversation fix it necessarily? No, but it does make sure that what happened is known to everyone which was important to me. I hope that you'll find a little bit of relief in this chapter for this reason, not just with Regina and Belle but with Belle and staying, Belle and Rumple, Belle and everyone really. I really wanted this chapter to move things forward and to get an acknowledgement from them that Belle was someone they needed because we certainly didn't see that on the show despite the fact that we should have.
> 
> Thank you to Katrina_Leann and Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter! I'm so happy that ya'll are liking it! I hope that some of Belle's confusion comes through here because Teresa Martin kinda hit the nail on the head in a previous review. What I'm trying more than anything to show is a really confused young woman who doesn't know which way is up and which way is down. My goal is for everyone to look at her and see that she is not in a good place at the moment for anything much less a relationship and it'll all build in together so that we can get to the present day 5A story. Just trust me with where I'm going on this because if it doesn't make sense I think it will on Monday. Peace and Happy Reading!


	19. Someone To Talk To

By the time that she made it back to "her room" that night she was exhausted, but she wasn't the only one. Feet dragged the entire way up the stairs, eyes drooped, lids were heavy, and though she saw the lovely dresses and nightgown someone had placed in the room for her she just didn't care. When she finally shut the door behind her she took the time only to set her cloudy bell jar on the stand beside the bed, before finally flopping unceremoniously, gown and all, down herself. She was tired, they all were, but she felt the weight of days' worth of exhaustion.

Today had been long, the day before had been longer, and the day before that…she hadn't really slept well for a long time. Tonight she could sleep. The bed was comfy and cozy and it would appear that with nowhere to go and nothing to do for a few hours she should be able to sleep.

Would and should were not could.

She turned her head on the pillow and glanced at her bell jar, shinning in the moonlight, and just like magic, this time without prompting or even words the glass melted away to reveal the rose for her.

Seven petals. Seven petals gone out of who knew how many were on there. Seven opportunities missed. Dozens left. And yet here she was letting them go by. She knew what she'd said and she stood by it but actually allowing herself to not feel guilty about staying, whether it was right or not was tricky if not impossible. And finding someone to talk to, someone who knew what she was going through…there was only one. There was one she hadn't heard from in a long time, one that she missed and wanted to speak to, but wasn't sure she could. But desperation had taken its toll and just like that day at the cemetery she turned away from her jar, closed her eyes, and imagined opening them.

There was Neal.

Sitting on the window ledge, hair looking more grey than black in the moonlight, leg hanging off and swinging absent-mindedly as he stared out the glass. What would she give for her imagination to be a reality?

"Long day?" Neal assumed without glancing over at her.

She let out a snort and nodded forgetting for a moment he wasn't looking at her. "Long week," she corrected finally. "Long…season I suppose. The weeks all pile up after a while."

"Yeah, magic will do that to you," he smiled finally glancing at her over his shoulder with a sympathetic smile. She'd missed that smile. She still did she supposed, this was something that was in her head after all but…it was nice to see it again, whether it was real or not.

"Where were you?" she asked quietly as he picked himself up off the sill and readjusted so he could face her.

"What're you talking about? I'm dead, you know where I am."

"No, I…I know that, it's just…these talks, you, it all went away for a while."

Neal nodded as he finally settled. "When you found Will," he pointed out. "I guess you just didn't need me then."

"That's not true," she insisted quickly, sitting up in bed and resting against the headboard. "You know that's not true, I always want to talk to you!"

Neal raised his hand and held up a finger to stop her. "Want…not the same as need." Want and need. Yes, she knew the difference. Everyone knew the difference, Roland knew the difference! But did they always have to be so different? So many times when she was with Will she'd thought that she needed him, she knew that she'd needed to talk to him…didn't she? "I know what you know remember," Neal suddenly answered her thought, reminding her of the first conversation she'd had with him like this by his grave.

"I remember," she responded. "I just hoped-"

"You hope that this isn't pretend and wish that we could actually talk-you and me both. But hey, while I'm here, maybe we could take a crack at it?"

"At what?"

"Why I'm here again maybe?"

She shook her head. This was too confusing for this late at night and two days without sleep. Did she really need a reason? "I don't know I just…I wanted to talk to someone."

"Nah, I don't believe that," he rejected. "There are at least half a dozen dwarves that would talk to you if you asked. Why me?"

She sighed. "Because you're my friend. Because I trust you? Because…because I know you'll tell me the truth, you've never lied to me or tried to manipulate me or keep me somewhere against my will."

"Wow. Low standards for friends..."

She smiled and actually managed to chuckle at bit. It was true. Again. She did have a low standard. The sad thing was based on those standards, very few people here qualified. Robin Hood certainly. Granny she was certain had probably tried and succeeded to manipulate her in some way that was harmless, it was Granny after all. Leroy, yes. Zelena, a very Lacey like "hell no"! Regina, without a doubt, no. Roland and Little Neal, of course. Mary Margaret and David…arguable. And Henry…

"You know…I think I Henry called me Grandma today," she admitted to Neal. "I was so busy I didn't really notice at the time but the more and more I think of it…"

"And being called 'Grandma'…you have a problem with that?" Did she? Did she have a problem with that title?

"I don't know. It's odd, I think. There was a time that I wanted nothing more than to be part of the family, but then Rumple and I got married and…I don't know…the actual name 'Grandma'…it used to throw me but not today, not when it was so…"

"Unexpected?"

"Thoughtless," she corrected. "I'd asked him to call me Belle and he has since then except for today when we were in the midst of everything and I think…I think it just sort of came out."

"Interesting."

Yes. It was interesting. Probably not to anyone besides her, not now, not when she was certain they were all taking advantage of the sleep she should be getting. It was one word! But she felt like it said more than what David had said…though that certainly meant a lot to her as well.

"David called us a family tonight," she added. "All of us, Rumple and I included."

"Is that news to you?"

"No! No, not at all it's just…it's the first time he's ever said it, like that, before. We'd talked about it privately once before but…to say it like that in front of everybody-"

"You think he was lying?"

She was silent. She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to say "no"! She wanted to say that it was a turning point that David finally seemed to accept her into their family, "dysfunctional or not," as he'd said, and that was that! But she also knew that they'd been having a very serious conversation about a very serious decision and she'd been on the opposite side of the fence. People said things they didn't mean in arguments all the time, things the other party wanted to hear to sway their vote. She wanted to believe that David had meant what he said, but part of her somewhere couldn't help but wonder…

"You think he was trying to manipulate you?" Neal assumed, giving her thoughts a voice once more.

"I don't know," she finally answered.

"Sounds fair," Neal conceded. "I mean, the guy wasn't exactly one of my favorite people in the world when I was alive! But…manipulation doesn't really seem like his play to me. Don't you think?"

Now it was her turn to shrug. "You know what I know…you're right. David wouldn't say something he doesn't mean. Not to me anyway."

"What about Mary Margaret? Would she tell you what you want to hear?"

She opened her mouth to deny it but was surprised that she couldn't, not outright at least. "I don't think Mary Margaret would ever use the word 'manipulate' but…I think she uses her words carefully."

"Sometimes?"

"All the time," she corrected. "Growing up the way we did…it's something you're trained to do and can't really leave behind. There are times I still catch myself doing it and it's been decades since I wore the crown."

"So then that leaves Henry. Would he have said what he said to-"

"No," she interrupted before he could even finish such a terrible thought. "He's a good person, Neal. He wouldn't do something like that. What he said…that was genuine, there's not a doubt in my mind."

Neal nodded and then sniffled a little before pushing himself off the wall and letting his legs dangle off the sill. "Good! That's good. Emma and Regina…they did a good job."

"We all did," she added, because if they were a family as David had then she liked to think that Henry was the way he was because he had a little bit of all of them somewhere inside of him. It was a group effort. It had to have been. If it hadn't and someone had gone through what Henry had gone through she didn't imagine that they'd have turned out half as well as he did, even with the Dark One as his Grandfather…

"Oh Neal…" she glanced over at the glass on her table and stared at the ceiling above her. "What am I going to do about your father?"

"What do you want to do about him?"

She couldn't help but chuckle because that was just the problem wasn't it! "I don't know!" she answered honestly. "I know I want him to live and I want him to wake up but what happens when he does wake up-if he wakes up…"

"Don't think of it that way. Think of it like it's already happened. If he was awake right here and now…what would you want?"

What would she want? She wanted the issue to be gone! She wanted to stop hurting and being lied to. She wanted Neal back, she wanted them to be a family. In the end, she supposed what she really wanted was to turn the clock back to that moment everyone had come back from Neverland and point out how odd Henry had been acting. Maybe then everything would have been better.

"I want to go back in time," she finally answered. "I want to start over."

"Well…what do you need to get what you want?"

She snorted. "Heart, brain, courage, newborn…something that represents all four elements of magic…"

"Clever," Neal smirked. "But be serious."

She was afraid that he'd suggest something like that because if she couldn't be funny or use humor then she was left with no other alternative than to be serious and tell the truth and the truth…it was scary.

"I don't know," she muttered. "It's the first time that I don't have a plan-that I can't think of what needs to be done or come up with even a goal to plan for! I don't really know what I want and I don't really know what I need."

On the window sill the Neal in her mind sighed as he hoisted himself back up to rest against the wall and look outside again. "Well, they say admitting it is always the first step. I guess we know why I'm here again then."

"Yeah…" she sighed, "I suppose we do." And with that knowledge firmly rooted in her mind she allowed her eyes to open and experience the loneliness that came with laying in a room all by herself. Almost by herself.

She glanced over at the rose and found once again that the glass cleared without even a word, as if it wasn't just developing a link to Rumpelstiltskin, but to her as well. Somehow, whether it worked that way or not, feeling as though the rose was both of them, even in its sad state, it made her feel better. Not sure and not certain. Just better.

"Just hold on," she muttered into the air. "No matter what I decide…just hold on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Neal is back! I have been dying to tell you, especially after how well received these conversations between Belle and Neal went over in MT&U as well as ME&U. This is a relationship that I have always loved so much and in looking for a way to really explore Belle and what was going on in her head there seemed like there was no better way to do it than to bring back her best friend Neal. Or at least All-in-your-head-Neal. He'll pop up throughout the summer fictions and is really going to be key in helping Belle to figure out what she needs and what she wants when she clearly doesn't really know anymore. I hope that you'll look forward to exploring what she's thinking. My take on Belle in 5A? She's very confused. I think a lot of what she had with Rumple became foundational for her. If she could love Rumple then she could love anyone, if she could trust Rumple then she could trust anyone, if she could always believe in Rumpelstiltskin then she can believe in anyone and everything. And then Rumple broke her heart. She found out that she couldn't trust him and her belief was misplaced. That is soul crushing. It alters her personality because her basic foundation hasn't just cracked it's been obliterated. So now she doubts herself, she second guesses everyone, she lacks trust. I think she does love Rumple still, but she's been so hurt and burned in the past she is trying to protect herself from feeling the pain that he caused her. She can be with Rumple again, but first she needs to rebuild her foundation, learn to trust, have faith, and love without question again. That is a long road back because ultimately it's not just the magic that let her down...but the man. That is why she simply cannot say "okay so the magic is gone, we can start over again." What I'm really trying to create is a woman who is very clearly lost and if Belle was ever a friend of yours that had a story like this and broken heart like she has then my hope is you would look at that person and say "you are not in a good place to be in a relationship right now and you clearly have work to do". I like to think that Rumple got that at the end of 5x11 (yeah ok that as well as "no, don't take Belle to the underworld!"). Oh, yeah disclaimer...fiction is not reality. If you have a friend in a situation like Belle was in the conclusion should be clear, don't date villains.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for the comments that you left on the last chapter! I really do hope that you'll enjoy this one and all the future chapters like this to come! Whether it comes out as decent development or not I'm still pretty confident it'll always be more than what A&E gave us. Oh, and one happy little announcement for you, as you may or may not have seen the edit for Moments Lost is done! The entire Moments series now is actually up to date and compliant with 5x17! Yay! Now that that is done I can take a writing (but I'll still be posting) break until August! Sweet! So without further ado, shall we get into 5x03 and see if I can do anything with this story? Peace and Happy Reading!


	20. Searching for Clues

They didn't go home the next day. Or the next. Or even the next.

Two weeks later they were still gathered in Camelot, still in their rooms in the castle. And very little had changed in the last couple of weeks, fortunately enough for her that included her rose. Since the night of the ball only two more petals had fallen, the others, the ones floating around the base didn't remain there though, they were disintegrating, curling and rotting, drying up and turning brown before they began to slowly fade away.

She tried not to think about it, merely checked it every morning and every night like clockwork. She still carried it around the castle with her, but she was learning to ignore the temptation and concentrate on other things that might actually help her get back to Rumpelstiltskin instead of watching it like a hawk day in and day out. After all, there was a lot to concentrate on.

They all had work to do, but they all had their jobs as well. Although everyone in the group wanted and did find time to help in the tower with researching possible ways to free Merlin it was her and Regina doing the majority of the work. Surprisingly enough she found that she actually preferred it that way. As much as she disliked Regina and had lost all trust for her it didn't hinder there ability to work together on the magic. But the others...people had come and gone over the last couple of weeks. Killian and Robin she didn't mind so much, she'd taught them how to properly research before now, the others arrived whenever they could but when they did she almost wished they didn't simply because the time it took her teach them what to look for simply wasn't worth the time she lost. In the end she was usually just content to sit them down with a book of some kind and let them read so that they thought they were making a difference here.

But the true difference they were making was not in the tower, it was out in the world. When they weren't in the tower she knew that the others were just as busy as she and Regina were, but they were busy with their own task: keeping the people of Camelot calm…and ignorant.

David, Mary Margaret, Emma, their job was to spend as much time with the King and Queen as possible, wining and dining them and the court as foreigners from a distant land, Mist Haven, they had eventually learned. Henry and Roland were also helpful, often leaving the castle on small day trips to waterfalls, or valleys, seeing the sights that Camelot had to offer. They were the tourists. She and Regina on the other had sealed themselves off inside of Merlin's tower, but of course even that presented difficulties.

Regina was here and they believed that she was the Savior. She could see every time they looked at her that they had all imagined that the moment she arrived on the scene she would be able to break Merlin free. They hadn't expected her to have to do research or for that matter need help. "Assistant" was obviously the title that Belle had taken to them, though she appreciated the fact that when she and Regina worked together, for the most part they were equals, even with their…differences.

At first she and Regina had immersed themselves in magic. There was a lot of it after all. Dozens and dozens of books in foreign languages of nearly every corner and time in their world greeted them. Merlin. He'd been gone for a long time, but he'd been alive even longer than he'd been gone. He'd dedicated every single year to his craft, literally "his craft"!

"He was the one to figure out magical transportation," she whispered a few days after their arrival as she read a side note written hastily in the margins of one of the oldest books speculating that one day it would be possible only to think about a place one longed to go and they would appear.

 _"Magical transportation is possible,"_ the note said. _"In order to be certain all body parts remain intact, focus thoughts on skin, the tips of fingers and toes, the soles of feet, everything else follows. Use a concoction of toast for the nausea…add butter and jam for flavor if desired."_

Remarkable. And…oddly funny in a way she hadn't quite expected for someone of his time, especially someone as brilliant as he'd been.

"That's not all he discovered," Regina commented setting another book before her. This one wasn't magical, it was herbal. It appeared to be a very basic book covering plants and fauna in the known realm at the time it was written. But next to every entry written in different handwriting there were notes. _"Wolfsbane-helpful for spells that involve calling people or items." "Extract of Vanilla-when used in excess newt tongue, bark of a cypress tree, and a bit of magic it renders small objects invisible to the eye, will not work on anything bigger than the cat." "The Gardella flower-helpful for immobilization, determine other ingredients to target certain body parts." "Lylic-will turn smoke purple and leave behind a peaceful fragrance that finally got Cloyd to stop pestering me about the smell."_

"These are small things today but leaps and bounds back then," she thought aloud. "He literally poured the foundation for magical knowledge and teaching. Without him today we'd be in the stone age!"

"And yet here we sit without a clue about how to get him out of that tree!" Regina growled the look on her face shifting from admiration to irritation. She was right. These books were helpful, but hardly any of them were really things written by Merlin! It was like Rumple's basement room, all his spell books had been written by strangers that came before him, Rumple just added into the margins. That wasn't going to get them anywhere especially if all of this magic ended the day he'd disappeared. The magic here hadn't evolved in centuries. All except…

"Have we looked at these yet?" she'd asked a week after their arrival, looking at a set of books lined up one right after the other. They matched. They were unmarked, no title, no author, nothing to suggest they were anything special. For all she knew they were a set of magical encyclopedias!

"I looked yesterday," Regina had answered giving them a glance before turning back over to her spell books and rereading a chapter on transformations and, she assumed, Merlin's notes on it. "The language is old, I couldn't recognize anything. It's got to be a glamour of some kind! Simplest explanation is usually the right explanation, Occam's razor! I don't know why we keep dismissing-"

"Because the simplest answer isn't always the right answer and the tree doesn't show any typical signs of glamour," she'd argued absent-mindedly trailing her fingers over the books before her.

" _A_ sign," Regina'd corrected. "It didn't show a sign of glamour, that's not the same thing as displaying multiple signs! This is ancient magic, it might work differently."

"One of the best most obvious signs of glamor is not reacting properly to the world around it. I saw the tree myself, it was windy out and it swayed. It wouldn't have done that if it was a glamor."

"Today! Maybe glamour back then was different…" She'd let Regina keep talking, unsure why she was still following after this ridiculous train of thought that she could have sworn they'd dismissed days ago when she finally broke down and told her that she had to see the tree for herself. It wasn't a glamour transformation. She knew it wasn't. Glamor would have changed his appearance but not the man himself which was why she was convinced that he was actually bound to the tree in some way, that it had been there before he had been and someone or something had tied him to it. A binding would keep him from doing magic inside the tree and saving himself, the questions in her mind were how and why had this happened. That was going to be the key to get him out. But how to find that…

Making up her might she'd heaved one of the heavy books off of the shelf and set it down on the table before her. "I told you that was useless…" Regina had warned without taking her eyes off the book in front of her.

"I like to judge things for myself," she countered as politely as possible. A week in and so far the timid truce that she had with Regina was working just fine. She didn't particularly need it to move anywhere for better or worse than where it was right now. "You never know where a small seed might lead to a…tree!" she breathed in amazement.

The book was beautiful and well taken care of. The writing within was careful and precise. She knew it was Merlin's at once because she'd spent the entire week going through his notes. Regina was right it was written in an old tongue. But it wasn't unreadable…not to her.

"What?" Regina questioned. "You've got to be kidding me. You don't recognize that do you?!"

"Barely," she answered setting it down and looking the wording over. "It's old and dead but…I studied this language in my childhood! It's the Latin of the Enchanted Forest. Translating it will take some time but I can read it and…" Her eyes swept over the pages before her. With every word her heart began to pound faster with excitement. It wasn't possible was it? Had these really been here the entire time, waiting for her like this?! It was outstanding.

"I think…I think these are his journals!"

"You're joking. The most powerful wizard in the world kept a diary?"

"More like a log. See this here? It's a date. And this…it's a date too, all of this and…here, this paragraph doesn't look too difficult…

"'The…the morning of today'…so…this morning, 'the sun was…lighting?' Shinning, probably shinning. 'Shinning on the grass and I…discovered', maybe, 'a new red flower. I opened the hand of me and and called it by what I called it…what I named it,' I suppose, 'and…it came to the hand of me.'

"'This morning the sun was shining on the grass and I discovered a new red flower. I opened my hand and called it by name and it came to my hand-me!' Something like that..." she finally smoothed over with a smile. "This…this is what we've been waiting for! The rest of these books are his additions but this is him, Regina. This is Merlin! Discovering magic for the first time it would appear! Calling flowers? A simple summoning? That's not the work of a brilliant magician that's someone just discovering his skill!"

"Merlin wasn't always Merlin…imagine that. Does it say anything toward the end, anything about trees, or enemies, anything that might help us figure out why he's in the tree or how to get him out?"

She had already been one step ahead of Regina. Her fingers were already pulling back the pages rushing to get to the last one to see what clues he'd left, but what she'd found left her only more confounded.

"No, he's…it's difficult to decipher, but he's talking about…about a dragon scale maybe? And adding it to…a…a something potion…a potion of some kind. Translations will take me a while but…" her eyes skimmed over the date and she didn't know if she should be elated or terrified. Ten years. The language might be difficult for her to read but she could understand the date easy enough and according to this ten years had passed since the start of this journal. She turned back to the shelves behind her and looked over the dozens lined up before her.

"This isn't the last one," she realized.

"What?"

"This book only covers a small bit of his life, the rest of these…they are the rest of it."

All at once, without even looking at Regina, she felt the air inside the room change. Suddenly it wasn't just her that understood the magnitude of this discovery and the man they were discovering! Ten years in this one volume alone! Two-no! Three dozen more on the shelf beside this one. Assuming they all covered ten years…three hundred and sixty years. That was a lot of life.

That was a lot of reading!

Not to mention the translating and the researching left to do…

"I think we're going to need some more help up here," she concluded looking over her new task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did they choose six weeks? Honestly, I'd like to know why they insisted on six weeks. In the end there was no need for six weeks. They made the time in Camelot seem like it came one episode after another which would only make it about a week in Camelot. So here I am and I'll be doing my best to expand on time anywhere that I can. The time between 5x02 and 5x03 was one of the best and most obvious places that I could put in some time. There are a few other places and I think you'll enjoy that time but first we need some serious Research!Belle chapters! Let's do this thing.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	21. Diaries of a Lost Wizard

After the discovery of the diaries she and Regina recruited the others to help whenever they could as often as they could, to replace the work that she had been doing. She translated. Day and night, at breakfast and at dinner, when she sat out by the tree and when she lay in bed at night she translated. It wasn't easy work. She had parchment and quills with her every step of the way, when she went to bed at night ink stained her fingers, she kept charts close by for gender endings, parts of speech, and a list of words that she couldn't identify close at hand. It wasn't easy relearning a language she'd never been fluent in to begin with, but fortunately for her even in her former life she and her mother always had a talent for foreign languages and after a certain point they had always just seemed to click. This was no different. She translated and read for days and nights on end but the result was that the more she read and immersed herself, the easier the translations became. There was a time when she'd first found the journal that it had taken her an entire hour to get through a page, but one week later, she could get through a page in five minutes flat! And the story that she found in Merlin's writing...it was surprising.

The Dark One…he was all over Merlin's writing.

She didn't know when he'd met the Dark One or how they had connected, it must have been in another volume. She'd been tempted of course to read all of them, starting at the very beginning but they'd already been there a week when she'd discovered what they were and the sheer number was overwhelming. She couldn't afford to translate all of them. So instead she'd meticulously looked up the dates in each one, because naturally they'd been out of order, to find the final volume, the one that would have been written closest to the time he'd become the tree, and started there.

Meeting the Dark One wasn't mentioned, the journal she'd picked up was meticulous though, only partially filled in and covering about a year of the sorcerers life. He'd written almost every day in this journal, and most of it was about the Dark One. It was obvious she was in the middle of the epic from the beginning, but it was also obvious that the Dark One then was completely and utterly out of control in Merlin's eyes. Partially because it wasn't all for the greater good, it was personal.

"The details are hard to make out, with a little bit more research into the other volumes I might be able to put it together but finding a particular moment in his life but..." she glanced over and looked at the books behind her. "I imagine it would be a bit more like finding a needle in a haystack. For now it's only in bits and pieces."

"What is?" Emma questioned one morning. They'd been there nineteen days already and that morning at breakfast when Arthur asked how things were going Regina had stated that they were going well and were making progress. It wasn't a lie she supposed, but Arthur had taken it to mean something it didn't and informed them that he'd be up soon to see the progress they were making because he was eager to talk to Merlin himself.

They'd panicked and wound up back here to try and sort through what they knew and what they could tell and show Arthur when he arrived. The last thing they needed was for Arthur to doubt their story, kick them out of the castle, and cut them off not just from Merlin, but from this tower. The problem was they had nothing to show, only tell. Tension was high.

"The Dark One took someone he loved," she explained to the others. "He doesn't say how or why and the translation is tricky, but he repeatedly talks about defeating the Dark One without killing him for her sake. The Dark One must have taken her somewhere he didn't know and couldn't locate, not difficult with the right magical wards. I assume he put together that if the Dark One died he would have no assurance that she'd survive and might loose her forever. He worries about that a lot."

"So instead of looking for a way to destroy him he found a way to control him."

Every single one of them turned to stare at Emma and her stomach knotted. Had Emma just taken a lucky guess, or was it something more, some other way that she knew…

"What?!" she blanched looking around. "Come on, you can't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing?! It's what the apprentice said and it makes sense. He can't kill the Dark One so he creates a dagger to control him and get him to say where he's keeping his girlfriend. It makes sense right?!"

Uncertainty was still clearly painted on the face of everyone in the room, but eventually Mary Margaret turned toward her. "Is she right?"

She nodded. "More or less. He tried other things at first. The hat for instance. He says he might it from 'a dark abyss of nothing in the night sky.'"

"A black hole," David translated.

She nodded. "He hoped it would at least keep the Darkness contained, but it wasn't strong enough and he escaped."

"That explains why it didn't work the second time around. You said yourself that once something has been freed from the hat it can't go back in," Regina commented.

She hadn't thought of that exactly, but now that Regina mentioned it, it did make sense. Merlin discovered that the hat was only as strong as the magic it contained. Originally it had only been meant for the Dark One so he was able to use his own magic to free himself. Once he'd realized that it could be used to capture other magicians and their magic he'd disguised it as nothing but a simple box and hidden it away.

He'd tried other things over the years to get this Nimue back, at some point he even created the Gauntlet and although he didn't say why she had a suspicion that it was in order to help him find Nimue but the Dark One's magic must have been too powerful. If he ever found her he didn't say. It was difficult from his writings to even be sure that Nimue was alive at all. Several times Merlin had talked about being sure that the Dark One had _"destroyed her completely"_ , a phrase she took to understand that there wasn't even a body to find. It was one of the factors that led him to the conclusion he'd come to at the end of the book.

"The dagger was created for control, but also…when he figured that she might actually be dead and this would either lead to her freedom or he couldn't lose her any worse than he already had he decided that he had to do what was right." At that she set the book down on a table to read, because she knew that his words would be far better than her own in this case.

_"If I have done my job right then the Dark One has been bound, heart and soul, to a piece of the very blade that once gave birth to the demon within. Perhaps one day the two shall meet again and this horrible curse will be destroyed, but for now all I can hope is that it might spare the life of the woman I love. I wish to believe she still lives somewhere, though she may be hidden from my sight now I hope this dagger may be the key to her freedom, I only need the courage to do what I know must be done._

_"In only a few short hours, when the sun has descended we will put my theory, my magic, and my love to the test and will know the truth. I pray that the gods who bestowed my magical gifts upon me will give me the strength to do what must be done for the good of all the realm._

"That's it," she concluded. "That's the last entry. The rest of the book is blank."

"Well that's not cryptic at all," David commented bouncing on his toes with little Neal.

"He wasn't writing for an audience, he was writing for himself, possibly for his apprentice. He was a boy at the time, he wouldn't have needed details, he was living it."

"And there is nothing there about the tree?"

She shook her head sadly. "No."

"So he goes off to face the Dark One and comes out of it a tree," Mary Margaret clarifies. "It's safe to say that the Dark One is responsible for his situation. So, if a Dark One got him into that situation, is it possible a Dark One could get him out."

"Possibly," she answered honestly, eyeing Emma and the way she was avoiding their eyes again skeptically. "But it would require a lot of power. It's not worth the risk of-"

"What?!" Emma demanded, jerking her head upright at her words and looking her in the eyes with such intensity it almost burned. "What's it not worth the risk of?"

She took a few deep breaths and tried to remain calm as she reminded herself that it was just Emma. Dark One or not there was nothing to worry about…so long as she didn't give into the magic within her.

"It's not worth the risk of you using too much Dark Magic to handle."

"Agreed," Regina stated behind her.

"Does it say anything in there about how Merlin created the dagger? The spell he used to bind the Dark One to it?" Emma questioned her. She wasn't quick to answer. The tone of voice she'd used…it felt wrong. And knowing the question was coming from a former Dark One-

"Freeing yourself from the dagger won't help, Emma. It'll only give the Darkness more control," Regina insisted for her.

"I know that, I'm just asking. We need every bit of information that we can get, you said it yourself!" she argued.

"I don't see how that piece of information could possibly help us free Merlin from the tree," Regina responded.

She shook her head, the argument nearly over and Emma's question aside none of it mattered really. "It's not important. He didn't write his spells down in this book, only talked about them. If he did write it down it's not here and as far as I know we haven't found a spell book that lists it."

"So someone stole it?" Emma accused.

"Or Merlin knew how dangerous that spell was and never wrote it down, or the Apprentice took it with him when he grew up and left the tower, there are a million possibilities for why it's not here Emma but the same conclusion. It can't help us," Regina growled.

"So what does that leave us with?"

She offered a sigh in the place of Regina's sudden silence. "It leaves us back at the beginning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I had some fun with this fiction in a lot of different ways. So obviously I've made Belle wrong here. But I've made her wrong for many different reasons. 1) Because you can't be right all the time and sometimes it bothers me just how "easy" she seems to get it all the time (season 3 for example. "Our love will help me! Oh must be the teacup and it must be where he kept it!") so I liked the idea of giving her some puzzle pieces slowly instead of all at once and watching her put them together. 2) It shows how sometimes the smallest bit of information can be the key to everything. She never actually gives them Nimue's name. She knows it, it's in the writings, but she doesn't share it. No particular reason why, she just doesn't think it's important next to the story. Now would it make a difference right this moment? When Emma is fighting the Darkness and the knowledge that comes with it? Probably not. But would it later? Clearly. 3) I enjoyed writing the disconnect and misinformation. This happens all the time in Biblical scholarship with Paul's Epistles and the writings of Peter and James. People ask all the time "why were they writing about this" and the answer is always "we don't know". We speculate and theorize from the clues the writings leave behind, but the truth is we can't ever 100% know because they don't need to tell us. They weren't writing so we'd know what was going on 2000 years later, they were writing to a certain group who already knew what was happening. Merlin didn't need to write every little detail in his journal because it was for his eyes only, possibly the apprentice's, and they already knew the story. Belle doesn't. So she makes some mistakes that anyone would. She assumes Nimue is a male and the irony to end all irony 4) doesn't recognize some of the things she does in her own life when Rumple hurt her. The way she separated Rumple from Rumpelstiltskin when she was angry, clarified in her mind what acts were done by the monster and not the man...Merlin does it too and because she doesn't have all the right information half the answer is already right there in front of them and they never seem to know. Fascinating right!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments yesterday! Oh I'm so happy that you're enjoying this! I'm always afraid that people won't like these fictions as much because they are a lot less Rumbelle centered but I'm thrilled that you like the direction this is taking so far and are continuing to read! Energy boost! Obviously this chapter is meant to lead us into 5x03, but it was clear to me that they had to have been in Camelot for a long time by the time 5x03 started and yet they were all in the tower panicking like they'd had about two minutes to study for the big Potion's Exam! I hope you'll continue to love where this is going! Peace and Happy Reading!


	22. A King Arrives and a Prince Departs

"That's it!" Regina shouted. "I'm making the decloaking potion."

She sighed with frustration. "It is _not_ a glamour!" she argued.

"How do you know that?" David asked as Regina moved towards a small cauldron and lit it despite her argument.

As Regina made herself busy with the fire and a few ingredients she grabbed a book that she, and Regina for that matter, had consulted on the subject of transfiguration and glamour. She opened it up to the chapter and set it before Mary Margaret and Emma. "Glamours don't react to the world around them," she explained in short. "The wind blew and the tree moved, it wouldn't do that if it were a glamour!" she explained glancing over at Regina.

"She's right it says it right here, there's got to be another explanation," Mary Margaret argued with her.

"That's not a book original to the tower, she found it in the library and I'm not convinced just because ancient magic doesn't show one sign of modern magic," Regina explained.

"At least this looks like we're doing something when Arthur gets here," David suggested.

"Exactly and if it isn't a glamour then it won't hurt anything! Not that it matters because it's a glamour! Now...can't we all be helpful? Witchbane! If we're going to free Merlin we're going to need witchbane," she insisted getting to work on the potion.

Regina's theory was wrong. She knew it and part of her sensed that Regina knew it too, but she and David had been right. If it wasn't a glamour then it wouldn't hurt anything and at the very least, when nothing happened Regina might finally give up the idea for good! And it was as David said, Arthur could arrive at any moment, at least going along with this potion now made them look busy! Fine…if this was what it took, then so be it. But when she went to the shelf that held the ancient ingredients Merlin had used for his spells she was reminded of a problem they'd discovered only days after their arrival.

"Yeah, but the labels are all faded," she reminded her. It had been hundreds of years since anyone had brewed a potion of any kind up here. If they were really going to do this they were going to need fresh ingredients which she was sure would only waste more time. Maybe Regina was just better off plopping a few ingredients that would flash and spark into the pot, make it look good for when Arthur arrived and they could talk more about the so called glamour later.

"Forget the decloaking potion, it's not a glamour anyway," Emma insisted, parroting her argument uselessly. Whether it was for the better or not right this moment Regina seemed to believe it heart and soul.

"You sure?" Regina questioned. Yes! Yes, she was sure. Emma might not be, it was written all over her skeptical face, but she was positive it wasn't a glamour!

"If I'm getting this right, the tree could actually _be_ him transfigured, right?" Mary Margaret commented from reading the book, the same passage she'd pointed out to her in the first place. Yes! That was what she'd been trying to tell Regina all along, they needed to get a sample and test that! It was nearly as simple as testing for a glamour with a decloaking spell!

"We could find out with a sample," she suggested moving around a shelf and giving up on finding the witchbane. It wasn't a glamour and as far as she was concerned when Arthur arrived it didn't matter what they were making so long as they looked productive.

"Yeah and when we snap off a twig and it turns into a finger who's crying then? Come on! Someone! Witchbane!" Regina insisted again getting on her last nerve. She turned her back and looked at the ingredients around her but didn't search hard for the witchbane. It _wasn't_ a glamour! And they didn't need to snap off a twig just scrap off a bit of dirt and turn it to flesh! It wouldn't be any worse than a kid getting a scrapped knee on their bike. Besides, if that was the answer then they would know it was a transfiguration and be able to free Merlin after hundreds of years of imprisonment. If it were her a scrape on the knee would be worth that.

"You sure you don't want me to just wiggle my nose and get him out of that tree?" Emma suggested with frustration from the other side of the room.

"No!" Mary Margaret snapped right away. Her blood ran cold. No. They'd already discussed it and Emma using her dark magic, even for something like this…it wasn't good.

"Your magic is dark now, it's not worth it. I'll just keep pretending to be the Savior, destined to free him, and we can do this together," Regina added.

Obviously the last time Emma had used her magic was still fresh in everyone's head. She hadn't seen it, but she knew that since Emma had refrained from magic she hadn't witnessed her talking to herself again and no one else had reported it. She wouldn't exactly call it progress but not doing magic certainly seemed better for her than doing it, at least from where she stood.

"Regina's right, Emma," David agreed.

"I heard someone say a woman is right!" Arthur's voice rose up behind them and she nearly jumped to find he'd finally arrived. "That's always a safe assumption, isn't it David?!" he jested before falling in line with them all It was lucky, had he arrived a few seconds earlier he certainly would have heard something he shouldn't have! They needed to be more careful, even when they were alone in Merlin's tower.

"How are you progressing, Madam Savior?" he asked walking around the table to where Regina held a small bit of potion in her hands. It was good. Regina, wrong as she was about the glamour, had at least been right about this. The cauldron before her was obviously brewing something and with all the glass flasks and vials out she certainly looked busy and hard at work on something despite not really knowing what she was doing. It was good.

"Um…progress," Regina answered for them, the same thing that had gotten them into this mess at breakfast. "Slow but sure!" She eyed all of them skeptically, as if checking to make sure they all understood to keep the story straight. David and Emma might not have seen the harm in it but she did. All the time they'd been here and Arthur had yet to earn her trust.

"Oh, it's uh…marvelous having Merlin's own books to work with!" she inserted quickly stepping forward. She didn't want him to talk to Regina. Not when their "slow progress" was almost no progress at all! And if she'd learned anything from Gaston it was that flattery could distract certain men from any path of conversation. She just hoped he was enough like Gaston that her distractions could work. "It's like talking with the master!" she jumped in quickly doing her best to sound like an infatuated school girl.

"Oh!" Mary Margaret gasped from across the room. "What if we could talk to him?" she questioned. Could talk to…who? Merlin?! Should she really be asking these questions around Arthur?

"What?" Emma questioned.

"Yes!" Regina hissed next to her. "You are…occasionally a genius!"

"Yes…" she realized, suddenly understanding what they were talking about and forgetting Arthurs presence next to them. It was the first fresh idea they'd had in weeks. "If we talk to _him_ he can tell us how to get _him_ out!"

It was genius! Completely genius! Isn't that what she'd been doing all this time with his notebooks and diaries? Talking to him? The only difference here was that now they'd be able to pick up those missing pieces and figure out what came after he went out to face the Dark One. Had he been turned into a tree? Was he trapped within it? Was the tree only a glamour? And she knew it had been done before because so many of Merlin's prophecies had been taken down after he'd disappeared into the tree!

And Regina had it already.

By the time she looked down she was already paging through a book and had arrived at an answer. She held the book up for them to see a picture of a very large mushroom. Her excitement died. It was the Crimson Crown. Nothing more than a myth. Wasn't there another simpler way to do this than…a fairy tale?!

"A mushroom!" David stated with a sigh, suddenly jiggling up and down to soothe the cooing Neal in his arms.

"Toadstool, actually," Regina corrected with a bright smile. She pulled the book toward her and read on. "Deadly poison, extremely useful in communicating across barriers, even through spells. Says here it's call a 'Crimson Crown'."

"Yes, I know this name," Arthur stated next to them. She wasn't surprised. Of course he knew it. It was a myth from their land, probably a bedtime story he'd grown up hearing as a child just as she'd read "Her Handsome Hero" and "La Belle et La Bete". But stories didn't make it real though…did it? It was here, in Merlin's books. Could it be? "It's rumored to grow in _Broceliande_ …the Forest of Eternal Night its existence is the stuff of legend though, most certainly fiction."

There. Legend. For once she and Arthur appeared to be on the same page of the same book. Weren't they better off finding something more solid?! And something that wasn't a glamour!

"Oh, people say the same thing about us. How far?" David inquired. He had a good point. She couldn't argue against it. According to the world outside of Storybrooke she was the Belle from _La Belle Et La Bete._ But that didn't make the stories true! The idea behind their story, she was willing to concede that had been right but the details of it were so skewed that it wasn't hardly the same thing!

"Half day's ride," Arthur answered anyway. "But if it is there it'll be protected by magical forces," he warned and to her that was hardly enough evidence to go gallivanting after it! She had notes from the Apprentice after Merlin had gone and he'd taken up his work. She could find out how he'd done it, how he'd communicated with him!

Still the look on David's face was desperate and excited all at once. He looked at Mary Margaret, as if for permission but she quickly shook her head at him. "No, David, wait until we know more," she urged.

But he only moved quickly around the table. "It's not like I'm needed here," he stated setting baby Neal into Mary Margaret's arms. "It's a chance, I'm taking it."

"I'll not let you venture out on your own brother," Arthur responded. "You'll need a guide and I'll be happy to offer my services to you in your search!"

"Then let's not waste time. We have a toadstool to find!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, here's why the timeline drives me crazy. They want these plots to go over a long period of time but they don't seem to know how to handle it. According to their timeline nothing makes sense. When I first saw this scene, when it opened with everyone panicking and talking about something pretty basic things I thought "oh, this must be right after they've arrived" but if you take the rest of the half season into account this must be weeks after. Which makes the panic a bit senseless unless something is added into it. I thought that making the "surprise" visit from Arthur not really a surprise worked just fine for that and found that the way Regina looked at the others and the tension in the room when he arrived explained it perfectly. Fine, that timeline issue dealt with. But then we have this trip...A&E don't seem to understand the idea of pacing themselves. They could have made the timeline a lot easier to deal with if they'd had Arthur say "it's a three day journey from here". Three days there, three days back...there is one week of time passing. If they want to waste all this time in Camelot then why not at least put explanation to it instead of having every little event happen within the span of a day. Sorry...rant over...it just frustrates me more and more as I write Moments.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter. I'm so happy that you liked it as much as you did! Now, it makes me really excited for when Merlin finally comes along. He's going to have a really awesome friendship with Belle! Peace and Happy Reading!


	23. Something Rotten in Camelot

They hadn't found the toadstool. And she was disappointed enough to know that even though she hadn't thought that it existed, some small part of her had hoped it had.

David had left with Arthur before lunch that day, they'd both gone off in search of it and she'd left the tower at Regina's insistence. "Regina…there's a note about the spell here I don't understand. _'Communication only possible when selected communication already established'_ …what is that supposed to mean?"

Regina moved over to the table examined the sentence herself and let a sound of curiosity escape her lips. "I don't know. I guess we'll have to figure it out."

She sighed in frustration. First a glamour, then a fairy tale, now they were on to guessing... "Great…" she breathed going over to the shelves to see if she could figure out the riddle.

"You look like hell," Regina added timidly from across the room. "When was the last time you slept?!"

"When did we leave Storybrooke?" she'd questioned sarcastically. It wasn't that she hadn't slept, she was sleeping actually, quite well despite all of this, she just wasn't getting enough of it. She'd been translating until the last rays of sunlight disappeared and usually even then she lit a candle to continue on. Then she woke in the morning at first light and started again. It was sleep. And she suspected that it really wasn't what was bothering her. It was Arthur. And David. The pair of them out there together looking for the Crimson Crown…she didn't know why it didn't sit well with her. She was being ridiculous about Arthur. She knew that now! They'd been here twenty days now and so far Arthur and Guin and their staff had been nothing but kind and pleasant to all of them, perfectly accommodating. Arthur volunteering to go with David into the forest after a mushroom they weren't sure existed didn't seem odd next to all that. But it felt odd.

She was just being paranoid, she figured. It was Rumpelstiltskin getting into her head again. He'd taught her not to trust those that she trusted and while part of her believed that was for the better because she'd probably been too naïve about certain individuals, now she wondered if she'd swung too far and was too distrusting. Was it possible to be "too distrusting"?

"Why don't you go lie down?" Regina insisted. "I can stay here and fix the potion we'll need to make The Crimson Crown work, Zelena can help with the little stuff. It'll be good old fashioned sisterly bonding time only one of us will be wonderfully and beautifully silent! That's my kind of bonding!"

And far be it for her to stand in the way of that. So far she had managed to avoid Zelena almost completely on this trip and she fully intended to keep it that way. A break would be nice. And if this worked and the Crimson Crown was found, then going through all of the Apprentices notes would only be wasting time.

So for once she did as Regina requested, she took her bell jar from the tower, went back to her room, and after giving into a temptation to check that it was unchanged since morning, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

It felt like only minutes later that Mary Margaret was shaking her shoulder to wake her up but the black night outside told her it had been hours. They needed her again and from the look on her face it wasn't good news.

When she arrived in the tower she saw Regina, Emma, Killian, and David. His clothes were wet, though damp was probably a better word, and he smelled. Algea and rot that she associated with the smell of death and stagnant water...it poured off of him. "Did you get it?" she'd inquired immediately.

"It got it, then I lost it," he responded…happily?! He'd found the legendary Crimison Crown and then lost it? Why on earth was he happy?! "I'm sorry Belle, the enchantments that guarded the toadstool were too much."

"So then…why are you smiling?!"

"Well it's good news!" David exclaimed. "Arthur is going to knight me."

"Knight you?"

"Tomorrow night. I'm going to be the newest member of the legendary round table!"

The news of their journey was filled with mixed emotions. Everyone was happy for David, she was happy for David, truly she was! It was an honor, she knew, to be named a knight of the round table! It was beyond honor it was legendary! And it was impossible anywhere but here. Becoming a knight of the round table was exciting at the moment, but what happened when they left? This wasn't their home. This wasn't where they belonged! And she needed to get back to their true home not waste time chasing titles and glamour in this strange place! She'd been wrong. The Crimson Crown did exist. But that meant that they needed it and now that they didn't have it…that was where she came in.

It was a good thing she'd gotten some sleep while she could because now she was doing what she'd suspected all along she would be doing: going through the Apprentice's notes.

The language wasn't as difficult to decipher as Merlin's writings had been, or maybe they were and she'd just gotten so good she didn't notice any more. There also were less volumes written in chicken scratch. It was a child's writing. According to the first volume the Apprentice began writing each and every day at Merlin's insistence. He'd been a beggar before Merlin, one day he'd snuck into Merlin's tower desperate for food and found a goblet that he filled with water and drank from. The next thing he knew Merlin had caught him and taught him how to manifest magical power that he would have swore he'd never had before. Since that day Merlin encouraged him to write anything and everything down that would help him learn his newly discovered craft and help him to teach other young wizards one day. The writing didn't exactly stop after Merlin's disappearance but it certainly came more and more infrequently for the next few years or so until the journals stopped abruptly. That must have been when the Apprentice had left the tower for himself. There was very little in this volume about leaving and mostly it was about how much the Apprentice didn't want to go right up until the end, the very last page! He must have taken the journal he was working on with him when he'd finally conceded to his fate and gone. That was why the record was missing.

"He just left?" Regina inquired as they continued working the next day.

"At Merlin's insistence," she confirmed.

"So he did talk to Merlin?"

"Frequently but how…it's a bit complicated."

"How?"

"Well…when he is a boy, he writes about Merlin giving him the wand and going off to face the Dark One and the next time he writes Merlin is just a tree! He's a kid, younger than Henry, maybe not much older than Roland, his story isn't exactly detailed but he does say that he's able to summon Merlin when he wants to appear."

"When he wants to appear? So…it's a two way street."

"Right, it's like a telephone. Arthur can call all he likes but if Merlin doesn't answer-"

"Then there is nothing he can do," Regina finished for her.

Suddenly she understood something too late, something that was important…or would have been. " _'Communication only possible when selected communication already established'_ " she recalled. "It means…it means that even if we had found the Crimson Crown we would have needed someone who had already communicated with him in this form. He would have to choose to answer that person, it's not guaranteed."

"Well, I don't know about you but I can't think of anything more worth answering for than freedom. He's been in that tree a long time, I'm sure he'd want out by now. What about when the Apprentice is older? When he's not a boy?"

She nodded, happy that she was finally able to offer at least something hopeful. "Possibly. There isn't a lot here because Merlin appeared to him and told him to leave Camelot, no reason why, just that he was needed elsewhere. Arthur resists because this is his home and that's where this book ends. I'm sure there was another one but he must have finally understood he needed to leave and taken what came next with him when he did. But in one passage here he talks about going out into the meadow and gathering ingredients before a summoning, things like wheat, fireflies, fairy dust, sap for a Tolkien Tree, pollen of a Crass Flower, the roots of a 'dusty tuber', and something called a Middlemist"

"Dusty tuber?" Regina blanched. "What the hell is that?"

"I think it's a potato, what I can't figure out is the Middlemist," she answered honestly. "The rest of these I've heard of before but this…I'm assuming it's something that's been renamed or specific to this area. I've never heard of it here or in Storybrooke. I'm going to cross check it against Merlin's notebooks and journals, and I'll look through the botanical book we found, see if I can locate it or a picture of it and identify it."

"Alright…how can I help?" she questioned.

She sighed and put down her books. "You can go support David," she insisted. Regina gave her a look of disgust and disbelief but she didn't back down. Yes, there was important work to be done here but Regina had a job that was just as important if not more so to keep her research going; she had to keep them thinking that she was the Savior. "You're the Savior to them," she explained. "They'll be expecting you, they won't miss me. I'll stay here and keep working, you go and do what needs to be done. I'm sure there will be plenty to do when you get back."

She wasn't pleased, but the way she rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders suggested that she knew what she'd said was true. She stalked to the door without another word and-

"I don't suppose the apprentice knew anything about the girl did he?"

"Who?" she questioned.

"The girl. The one Merlin loved."

Nimue. That was her name. The one that the Dark One had stolen from Merlin out of vengeance and greed. She was all over his writings, but rare in the Apprentices. "No," she answered sadly. "He doesn't seem to have read his work, it's in another language and I don't know if he'd know it if he read it. Every now and then he mentions feeling bad for him and hoping that he will love others as much Merlin loved her but nothing beyond that. In his own work Merlin and the Dark One are pretty straight forward, almost exactly what he told us before he died. The Dark One is a terrible curse that destroys lives and Merlin did what he did to contain it despite the pain that it caused it."

Regina appeared intrigued by it for a moment but then shrugged her shoulders and opened the door. "Well, I guess it's not important now. He lost and she's probably dead."

Probably. She agreed with that. If Nimue was captured by the Dark One then she probably died long ago. If not before Merlin became the tree then certainly when he did. After all the Dark One would have been holding her for blackmail, once he was a tree there would be no point in keeping her alive. He'd have killed her or released her and considering how long he'd been a tree then if she was alive she certainly would be dead by now.

Putting the girl and the ceremony going on below her far from her mind she read on hoping to figure out the mystery of the middlemist, what it was, what it could be now, where she could find it, if it even still existed too! Nimue, the Apprentice, this tower…everything had aged and in certain cases died. Who knew if this thing was still around today? Though even if it wasn't she was hopeful that if she just knew what it was then she'd know what to replace it with in the spell. Then they could make a call…and hope that Merlin answered.

The door to the tower slammed shut and she jumped to see Mary Margaret in a sparkling gown leaning against it, Neal in her arms, as she stared off into the open space. She looked…she looked distraught. Her chest was heaving, her mouth slackened, and she didn't even seem aware of her or even little Neal!

"Mary Margaret?" she questioned. She didn't move, she didn't say anything! It worried her enough that she quickly walked over to her and safely scooped the baby up and out of her arms. Mary Margaret jumped at the touch and in all of one second she seemed aware of what was happening around her.

"You were right," she muttered her voice barely above a whisper. "You were right, we can't trust them. Arthur, Guinevere, Camelot…we can't trust any of them."

Suddenly she was aware of every beat her heart took and every movement Neal made in her arms. Yes, she'd had that feeling since they got here but she knew that Mary Margaret hadn't! What had caused such a changed in such a short amount of time? Why was she here?

"Mary Margaret what's happened? What's wrong? What can't we-"

"I just saw someone in the castle," she burst out in a hissed whisper. "Someone I trust, someone from the round table, someone that David and I thought was dead! But he's not dead. He's been hiding away because…he told me…Arthur isn't as good as he seems. We can't trust him. He's a villain!"

That was…quite an accusation. One that not even she would have made when they first arrived. It made sense as to why she'd felt what she'd felt but…was that really it?

"Are you sure?" she questioned. "Didn't Arthur just knight David?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "I'm afraid that's why he did it. He's working hard to gain our trust, too hard. But this man has already earned it, I'd trust him with my life. Belle…we can't trust them."

She trusted Mary Margaret. Possibly she trusted her more than she did her gut because she'd been skeptical until this moment but now looking at Mary Margaret and the look on her face…she was right. She knew she was.

"Alright," she agreed. "The good news is that they only _almost_ got away with it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so on we go. I know this chapter seems mostly like it's just filler but there is actually a lot of information coming at them here. Plus, I've never been comfortable with writing Mary Margaret but this is one time that I'm certain I got her character right. It took her all of an hour before she told someone her secret. If you're Mary Margaret you share secrets...it's what you do!
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	24. Advice From An Uncertain Woman

Mary Margaret was playing a dangerous game, but she couldn't exactly say that her motivations for it were wrong. She'd seen David after he'd been knighted and she could see that Mary Margaret had been right. He believed in King Arthur. He trusted King Arthur. And if the way that he held his shoulders was any indication, he enjoyed the little bump that King Arthur had given him by knighting him.

So Mary Margaret made a choice, the wrong choice, in her mind no matter what her motivations were. She wasn't going to talk to David about the man she'd seen, Lancelot was his name.

"Why?" she questioned that very night when she told her the plan. "Why not tell him?"

"Because he'll believe Arthur!" she reasoned pacing back and forth with Neal in her arms again. "The only proof I have that something is wrong with Arthur is the word of Lancelot which isn't really proof at all. I trust him, I believe what he said but here Lancelot is nothing but the disgraced knight that David replaced. Who do you think he'd side with?!"

"You!" she insisted making Mary Margaret stop in her footsteps. "You're his wife. He might not trust Lancelot but he'll trust you won't he?"

Mary Margaret opened her mouth and took a few deep breaths gaping at her before shaking her head and beginning her pace again. "It's too risky. There are two sides to the story. I may believe Lancelot and think that Arthur is wrong and I could try to convince David of that but he'll only side with Arthur and try to convince me that Lancelot is wrong. And if he happens to trust Arthur enough that he tells him about Emma who knows what will happen?!"

"You're over thinking this…"

"Am I? We don't know what King Arthur would do if he found out that Emma was the Dark One. He might panic, he might-"

"David won't tell Arthur about Emma. He knows the dangers just as much as you do. He'll trust you more than he'll trust Arthur or Lancelot! You're his wife, his true love he will listen to you."

"You can't know that!"

"Yes!" she screamed suddenly. "I can! That's…that's actually the one thing I do know," she muttered trying to breathe and calm down. It figured that the one time she actually had decent advice to give that no one would listen to her. "I kept a secret from Rumple. A horrible, terrible secret about what happened between Anna and I. And I did it because I was scared, because I didn't think he would understand or love me the same way. And I let the secret eat me alive until I did something even worse and used the dagger on him."

There was silence in the room. Mary Margaret stopped pacing, stopped arguing, even her skirts stopped swishing as she stared at her with an open mouth. "Emma…Emma didn't tell me that."

"Emma doesn't know that part," she admitted quietly. "I've…I've never told anyone and obviously neither did Rumple. But even after all that Rumple still understood! I didn't think he would but in the end he did. He still loved me, Snow. I didn't know what he was hiding or how bad it all really was but I do know that he still listened to me. If someone like Rumpelstiltskin can do that…don't you think David can too?"

There were tears in Mary Margaret's eyes and her jaw was set with determination. For a moment she expected her to simply run from the tower and tell David then and there! Until the door to the tower burst open again and Regina stepped inside. She raised her eyebrows and her hands as she looked at her almost shocked. "There you are, everyone was wondering where you disappeared to. King Arthur and David are both asking for you and I needed the excuse to be excused!"

The determination in Mary Margaret's face fled quickly and she swallowed her tears. "We keep this between the two of us until I decide otherwise," she whispered before gathering little Neal up in her arms again, turning, and leaving the chamber. She slammed the door in her wake and left Regina looking even more confused than she had been before.

"What the hell was all that about?" Regina questioned.

She only turned her attention to the small table she kept her glass jar and watched the fog melt predictably away at only her thought. She pretended, just as she had been since she arrived that the sight that greeted her didn't panic her and make her want to turn and run back to Storybrooke as fast as possible.

"Nothing," she answered. "We were just talking."

And it was the last talking that they'd done for the entire week. Another week of research. Another week of reading. An entire week of Mary Margaret managing to avoid her at every turn and deny what she knew. She would have gone after her and tried to convince her otherwise, but she had a feeling that at this point it didn't matter what she said. They'd had one conversation and Mary Margaret had had a week to convince herself that what she'd said didn't mean anything.

So she continued to work, day and night on her latest task. Middlemist. That was the ingredient they needed to "call" Merlin and talk to him, to find out what had happened. She'd looked everywhere, in all the books that she could think of and still nothing. The only thing she could think of now was that the name had changed in the other direction. She'd assumed because it was the apprentice's writings that Middlemist had been an old name. Now she began to think it might be the new name. It was the only thing left that she could try! If this wasn't the answer, then she didn't know where else-

The door to her-Merlin's tower opened and she quickly shut the book that was open on her lap before realizing that it wasn't Arthur or anyone worth worrying about. At least not anymore…

"Killian!" she exclaimed setting her book aside and looking the pirate over. "I didn't expect to see you here! So late!"

Killian sighed as he looked around the room. He seemed upset. Distressed perhaps. "Nor I, you," he commented barely making eye contact with him. "I ah…I thought you would be in bed by now." He didn't quite sound like himself, like the Killian she'd known and worked with weeks ago. And he didn't sound like he really cared for the conversation, it sounded as though he was just creating conversation out of obligation.

"There's too much to read and too little time it seems," she explained simply watching him as he continued to look around the room as though he'd missed something. "Can I uh…can I help you with something? You seem…distracted."

"Emma," he hissed, "she's missing from her room, when I saw the tower alight I worried-I thought she might be up here but-"

"I'm sorry I uh…I haven't seen her," she explained suddenly understanding what was going on. Emma missing wouldn't have been anything to worry about a few weeks ago, but today it wasn't just Emma that was missing, it was the Dark One missing too and that was cause for concern. After all, nothing had ever been good when Rumple disappeared from her radar whether it was for hours or for days. "Do you-do you want some help? We can wake the others and search for her-"

"No I'm…I'm sure it's nothing. I just wanted to check on her," he insisted. "I'm sorry I interrupted-"

"No, it's…it's no problem." He didn't hear her. He'd already tuned her out and was making his way toward the door leaving her utterly confused. What should she do now? Wake the Charmings? Not wake them? Her heart told her to let Killian handle it but her head told her it was too dangerous for him to handle on his own. Maybe she should-

"Can I ask you a question?" She glanced up and found Killian still standing at the door but finally looking over at her. His hand was on the knob and the door was open as if he was ready to leave but he'd stopped. Her stomach turned over in her belly. Why did she have a feeling this conversation was going to be anything but pleasant? Nevertheless she nodded her head and sat down again because she could already sense just by the look on his face that it was going to be one of those conversations before it had even begun.

Killian closed the door and turned toward her again. "You've been with the Dark One for quite some time now, am I correct?"

She snorted. "More or less..." More less than more, certainly. It might have been a couple of years since the curse had broken but the time they'd had to really spend together had only been a few months. Maybe that had been part of the problem...

"How does that work…or not work I suppose?" he questioned. "I mean, I've never seen it in person but I assume between the two of you certain…affectionate exchanges have-"

"We've kissed plenty," she inserted quickly, wondering when this had gotten so awkward.

"Right so…why does true love not work?" he finally asked. "How is it that True Love's Kiss has the ability to break every curse but Emma's?"

"It does work…" she whispered. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't expected them to have this conversation in some way. Though, to be honest, she'd assumed that it would have happened before now. Emma had been this way for weeks, why was this just now starting to bother him? "The first time I kissed Rumpelstiltskin, when he didn't expect it, the kiss did work. I opened my eyes and saw him for the man he was, the man I know him to be underneath the curse but then…then he knew what was happening and stopped it. He couldn't allow himself to not be cursed because he never would have found his son if he hadn't."

"So how does that work? Are you saying Emma is choosing to be the Dark One?"

"I'm saying…" What was she saying? A few weeks ago when she'd prepared for this she'd known what she was saying but now? She wasn't really sure what made sense now. Choices were so…complicated. "I'm saying that someone has to want to not be the Dark One with their whole heart and soul. I'm sure Emma doesn't want to be the Dark One but if even the smallest fragment of her being is hanging onto the possibility that the blackness inside of her is good, that it makes her better or more powerful, then that will prevent her from losing the curse. A curse isn't a curse anymore when someone wants it."

"So one bad seed outweighs all the good?" he demanded. It was a crude illustration but she understood it well enough. It was unfair. No one knew more than her how unfair it was. But that didn't change the truth of it.

"I'm sorry, Killian."

He looked genuinely heartbroken and angry, very angry as he clenched his jaw together and muttered something about doing something to help Emma sooner rather than later. "Killian!" she shouted after him without really knowing why. She just…she couldn't let him leave angry, especially angry at himself for something that he couldn't help. There was nothing he could do. It was all on Emma from here on out. And yet…

"Killian…was there ever really something between you and Will?" she questioned unexpectedly. She was curious now that she'd asked, but the truth was that it had just popped out. It was the first thing that she could think of to try and calm him down before he left on his frustrated search.

It worked, though only in a way. Killian did stop and he did seem to calm in a way but she could see that it didn't leave him entirely. He was simply indulging her again. But at least he wasn't out the door. "He ruined my date with Emma and on my way home I happened to spot him trying to break into your library. He'd ruined the evening I had planned so I ruined the evening he had planned. We handled it like drunken boys instead of men. And the crocodile…let's just say he convinced me my hand was playing tricks on me."

She fought the urge to let her jaw drop in peals of laughter. "That-that's all?"

"That's all. Why, did you expect it to be something more than an idiotic fight?" Yes, actually. She'd always suspected there was a girl behind their problems. Apparently she'd been incredibly wrong. Wasn't the first time she'd used poor judgement. "He was a good lad though, despite our beginnings…will he wait for you in Storybrooke?"

She smirked. She didn't know what to think about his questioning. "No…" she answered honestly remembering their last conversation and the note. "I think he's gone home. We were never really…" Serious? Together? Odd, she felt as though they'd been both over the last few weeks without ever really being either of them. How was that possible?

"And…the crocodile? How is he?" he questioned instead.

"Do you really care?" she asked through another smirk.

"About the crocodile? No, not particularly. About you? Let's just say I regret my previous actions and wish to keep our hatchet buried."

"Is that supposed to be an apology?"

"Haven't I done that already?"

"Probably." In the sudden and awkward silence she once again cast her eyes over to her rose and checked on it's condition. Another petal had fallen a few days ago, but beyond that... "He's…stable. Petals fall and die, the rose is withering, I want to be back there with him but…for now I think it's better I remain here. If things get worse then we'll go back, but for now…I don't think I'd know what to say to him even if he was awake, or alive and healthy. Love is…complicated."

"It is a ship adrift in a storm," Killian mused. "You'll manage. Rumpelstiltskin's capabilities to navigate those waters I doubt. Yours…I'd happily put my faith and trust in a Captain like you…"

"An apology and a compliment. If you're not careful you'll start to seem kind."

"Never." And so their complicated relationship continued. Friends, enemies, somewhere in between, she didn't know what to think about Killian or about Rumple and by proxy…Emma.

"Are you sure you don't want help finding Emma?" she asked, finally content to let him go. "I could come with you and help, we don't need to wake the others."

"I'll manage," he assured her, turning back toward the door and preparing to go off after his own Dark One just as she would have a year ago.

"Killian!" she called again before he could leave. He sighed with frustration but stopped again even so. "Just…guard your heart with her, until we can get everything sorted out, make sure both your eyes are open and you're seeing everything clearly. I know the peril your facing even if you don't, I've been burned and lost to it before. No matter how tempting it is, no matter how much you want to trust her, be careful. It is far easier to hate a Dark One than to love one."

He was quiet again and still as he continued to stare at the door before him. "Thanks for the advice," he finally whispered, then left the tower as quickly and suddenly as he arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've said it before and I'll say it again, sometimes the good thing about the memory loss thing is that I don't have to provide new ideas for conversations. This conversation happened in season 5 between Belle and Hook when they finally got to Storybrooke because it's a natural conversation to have. It would also have been a natural conversation to have in Camelot before they lost their memories. I liked the idea of putting it here because this is where relationship tension is kind of at a peak. This was another of those moments where I found I could stick a little extra time in. Emma seemed to have gotten worse between the last episode and the opening of this one so I added some time to allow further deterioration and some time for Mary Margaret's frustration to really grow with David.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter and big, big thank yous go to Fox24 who once again helped me edit the major Hook chapter for this summer! He's still on my list of people that I don't feel as confident writing for so I do my best but the guidance provided is more than helpful! Thank you Fox! Peace and Happy Reading!


	25. A Dangerous Game

When she opened her eyes she realized that she wasn't in bed, but rather hunched over a table in Merlin's Tower, a book beneath her arms where she'd closed her eyes for three minutes and apparently fallen completely asleep.

She was dreaming of Neal. And Rumpelstiltskin. In fact it was only the fact that Neal had been there that let her know she'd been in a dream. It was simple really; the three of them sitting around the kitchen table smiling and laughing about…something. As far as she recalled the dream hadn't included sound, only sight. Two important ones. The first was her hand. Through the laughter Rumple held it fast in his own against the table. The second image was Neal's hand, which amidst their peals of riotous laughter had clapped onto his father's shoulder as if they were as bonded like a father and son should be. And when Neal had risen and gone to the cupboard for a glass of water he'd return, tightened a hand over her own shoulder, and kissed her cheek before returning to his seat.

It had been a nice dream, one of the few that she was able to remember when she woke. They'd been the family she'd always hoped they'd be. The family they'd never had the opportunity to be. She'd blamed herself for that for a while, but not anymore. She'd learned. Despite what she felt it wasn't her fault, despite what Rumple thought it wasn't his fault, and despite what he'd done it wasn't Neal's fault. The true culprit was downstairs, sleeping soundly knowing that she'd been the true cause of their separation.

Though…

With a small stretch she rose from the stool she'd been seated on and went to her glass bell jar. It cleared for her and she reached out to touch it as she did a petal count. No change, not with Rumple at least. With her? She was beginning to wonder if it was Zelena's fault, if it was anyone's fault they were like this. Maybe the world just didn't want them to be together. Maybe happy endings really were only found in books.

Without warning there was a familiar sound behind her and she caught a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye. When she turned she saw Regina and Robin Hood standing in her tower.

"Regina? What's going on?" she questioned.

"Mary Margaret and David are on their way up to talk to us."

"And the reason you had to appear up here instead of walk with them is because…"

"To warn you things might come to blows," she informed her. "It would seem our favorite King and Queen have been fighting."

"Fighting? Mary Margaret and David?"

"Like I've never seen them fight before, not even during the year we were in the Enchanted Forest. It would appear that our Darling Snow has been keeping a secret from her husband and from all of us, if you can believe it. I for one never thought her capable of such a thing."

"Lancelot?!" she blurt out. "She finally told him?!"

She realized her mistake only a few seconds before Regina's brow furrowed in confusion then her eyes widened with surprise. "That's what the two of you were whispering about last week? You knew about this? About Lancelot this entire time?!"

"Yes, she did," Mary Margaret shouted from her place at the door. David stood behind her, ushering the pair of them in and closing the door behind them. "She told me to tell but I asked her to keep it between the two of us instead and it turns out she was right all along." She smiled in her direction as they joined the little triangle they created.

"We have a plan and we're going to need your full support because if we do this…it could have some nasty consequences," Mary Margaret explained.

"Then why are we doing it?" Regina asked. "We're close to finding a way to talk to Merlin and freeing him is the next logical step. Why change anything until we've done that?"

Mary Margaret glanced over her shoulder at David, their eyes met and David sighed. "Did you know that the dagger of the Dark One used to be part of Excalibur?" he asked looking over at her.

She felt as though she'd just fallen ten stories out the window. The dagger wasn't always a dagger? No this was news to her…or…was it?

"No, but…" she dove for Merlin's journal and looked for the passage she needed. It wasn't difficult, it was the last one in the book, the one right before Merlin had disappeared. She remembered something about it, something she'd paid no attention to at first but now…she hadn't known, but she should have after she'd read this the first time.

"How did I miss that?" she whispered.

"Miss what?" David asked. "What did you find?"

"A passage. Listen to this:

" _If I have done my job right then the Dark One has been bound, heart and soul, to a piece of the very blade that once gave birth to the demon within. Perhaps one day the two shall meet again and this horrible curse will be destroyed, but for now all I can hope is that it might spare the life of the woman I love…._

"It was right here the entire time. How did I miss that?"

"You didn't know it was important and were looking for something else," Robin commented across the room. "It's not your fault. The question is what do we do now that we know about it?"

"That's the thing. Arthur claims that with the other half of Excalibur, Emma's dagger, he can save Emma."

"So…we wouldn't need Merlin at all, then?" Robin questioned.

"No, that doesn't make any sense, the Apprentice clearly said that Merlin was the one we needed!" she argued.

"Maybe he just doesn't know about the sword," Regina added. "You said yourself that it didn't look like the Apprentice had known much about Merlin! If we could skip a step that would certainly help!"

"And that's why we are choosing to do this now!" Mary Margaret shouted over them all. "You were right, Belle, David and I have different opinions but when it comes to our daughter we agree that we have to be certain before we take steps. So we're going to give Arthur a test. If he passes we hand over the dagger and work with him to help Emma. If he doesn't…that's were things might get a little tricky but at least we'll know who the real enemy is."

"A test?" Regina blanched. "What kind of test?"

"We're going to test the two sides," David explained. "Regina, last year you forged a copy of my sword for Zelena. Can you do the same thing with Emma's dagger?"

"Well…yes, but-"

"Mary Margaret is going to need it. You'll hide the real one and Mary Margaret will present the fake one to Lancelot."

"You know where he-"

"The diner," Mary Margaret inserted quickly. "It was empty and he needed a place to stay so I offered. He's been there this entire time."

Everyone was speechless. It appeared that Mary Margaret had been keeping more secrets than even she knew.

"Right so, Lancelot is in the diner…you were saying, your majesty…" Robin Hood prompted after a few moments of awkward stares.

"Mary Margaret goes to Lancelot and says she needs help hiding the dagger an hour later I'll volunteer to give the dagger to Arthur and find that it's mysteriously gone missing," David explained. "I'll tell him Mary Margaret and I disagree about who to trust so he'll know she took it. If Lancelot tries to steal the dagger and Arthur saves her from him we know we can trust him."

"But, if Lancelot helps me hide the dagger and Arthur tries to come after me then we'll know he's telling the truth," Mary Margaret finished happily. Too happily. Was she the only one that saw an issue with this plan? A very, very big issue?!

"Nice plan…but no," Regina refused.

"I agree with Regina," Robin Hood chimed in. "It's far too dangerous for Mary Margaret."

"Which is why I'll be close at hand just in case."

"And the dagger will be fake so if push comes to shove I hand it over and run, danger for us is minimal, but danger for you…that's what we need to be concerned about."

"If I'm right and Arthur is to be trusted, we're fine and nothing changes."

"But if I'm right then Arthur isn't to be trusted and he'll know that we know it."

"And we'll no longer be welcomed in Camelot…" she concluded, suddenly seeing the meaning for this meeting. "We'll have to leave the castle. Fast."

"Exactly," Mary Margaret breathed. "Hook took Emma out for the day to a safe place that Henry knows about. There's no need to tell them about this until we can be sure of the outcome. After this morning there's no need to put any more on Emma's plate."

"Wait-wait!" she interrupted suddenly. "This morning? What happened to Emma this morning?" she demanded. Had she been wrong last night? Should she have gone with Hook after Emma?

"We're not sure exactly," Mary Margaret admitted. "We think she was after the dagger but when Hook finally found us and brought us to her she was nearly catatonic. She's getting worse. Which is why if Arthur can help us we'll trust him to, if not…you'll need to prepare for the worst, for the fact that we might need to leave this place as fast as we can and take as much as we can with us. We need you to act as though you are not aware of anything happening, not suspicious at all, but at the same time we need you to get things in order for a quick getaway because if Arthur really isn't to be trusted this will be our last day in this castle.

"They found us at the diner," she pointed out. "They know where it is, we won't be able to hide."

"Let me take care of it, if it comes to that," Regina commented. "But are you okay with this Sir David of the Round Table? You looked pretty happy about all this about a week ago?"

David grimaced but after a second or two shrugged his shoulders. "Comfy chair…catchy title…Emma is more important," he concluded confidently but sadly.

"Alright then…I guess I've got a dagger to fabricate and a dagger to hide," Regina mentioned.

"I'll go with you after I've warned Granny and the dwarves," Robin volunteered. "I'll ask them to bring the kids up here. Until we know what comes to pass we should all stay together for the time being."

"I guess I'll start getting a few things together," she said taking a look around the tower she'd become almost attached to over these last few weeks. It was a wonderful place, but if it was in the heart of danger… there was no choice, they'd have to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made the choice to include Belle and everyone in the plan for this because in the end, really they had to be. I mean if this didn't work what were David and Mary Margaret going to do just smile and say "Well, I guess we know your evil now, should we take our wine on the veranda today? Also, I endlessly debated about when to disclose the daggers connection to Excalibur. Merlin announces it in 5x07 and obviously that was a choice but I made the decision to do it here instead. 1) because David seems to be a team player all of a sudden. 2) because in 5x07 they seem to suddenly have a really good grasp of what is happening and the only way I could make that work was by giving them time to get it through their heads. And 3) because in 5x05 when Emma revealed Arthur's plan to Regina what she was surprised at was the fact that Arthur wanted to unite the blades, not the fact that Excalibur was once part of the dagger. I didn't reveal it all, I left enough room for discovery and shock, but I put in just enough of the foundation to make sure that it could sink in over time and keep everyone on the same page. Or...sameish page. It's a stretch I know, but if it's not in there so is the rest of the arc.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	26. Things Are Never What They Seem

"If you keep pacing like that you're going to wear a hole in the floor," Granny reprimanded from across the tower.

She was knitting. She had no idea where she'd found the yarn and needles or for that matter how she had the concentration to knit booties for little Neal in the midst of all this! For that matter she had no idea how Neal could sleep through it or how Roland was content to just play with his toys in the corner. At any moment their lives were going to change and she couldn't help the feeling that it would be for the worse. She had no idea how they could be so calm in all of this, she felt like if she didn't keep busy her nerves would fry.

"If we have to leave I need to make sure we have everything we need," she excused going back to the books again. "I don't want to miss anything. Leroy? Anything?" she called glancing at the Dwarf who had taken up watch at the tower window.

"Nothing since they rode out, sister!" he said, confirming what she already knew. Of course. As far as she knew everything had gone according to plan. Regina and Robin Hood had disappeared first, then Mary Margaret and she assumed David had followed close behind in the shadows as no one had seen him go. Arthur followed, a mouse taking the cheese. The only question for hours had been whether or not the mouse would die in the trap or survive. Things were quiet all morning. Granny, the dwarves, and the children of course had arrived at Robin's order. She'd begun to find leather bags to pack her books up in and another fit their clothes from the Realm Without Magic, stupid things they all didn't want to leave without. She'd taken her bell jar and fit it into the crook of her elbow and hadn't let it go, even through the packing. The bags she left hidden around the tower just in case someone arrived but her jar she wouldn't relinquish. If push came to shove and she didn't even have time to cross the room she refused to be without it. She simply wouldn't forgive herself.

But unfortunately it was right around the time she'd finished packing that things had changed for the worse.

"Something's happening…" Leroy had growled from the window.

"Mary Margaret? David?" she'd questioned quickly moving to the window. "Are they back?"

"No one's coming back…they're going out!" he'd blanched. Out! Going out?!

Sure enough when she'd arrived at the window she'd seen Queen Guinevere and no less than two dozen guards pour out of the castle, ride across the bridge at a full gallop, and disappear into the forest.

They'd all panicked then, in an odd fearful and quiet way. They didn't want to panic little Roland or wake Neal, but she could tell from the way that they all looked around the tower as if expecting Regina to appear out of the smoke at any second and whisk them away that they all knew the same thing. Four weeks in this tower and they'd never seen anything like that. The fact that they'd seen it today of all days…it was terrifying.

But nothing had changed for them since that moment. Not really. The tower was quiet. No one sought them either, neither Regina nor any Camelot's guard. Roland continued to play, Neal continued to sleep, Granny knit row after row, the dwarves kept their watch, and she circled. With each pass she moved the hidden books to a new hiding place, closer together and toward the center of the room so that she could grab them at the drop of a hat. Though, she supposed that perhaps she had been doing it a bit too obsessively. But she couldn't help it. If she didn't work on something, she was going to go crazy.

"That's your third time around the tower without moving anything. Everything you'll need you've packed. There's nothing you can do now but wait," Granny insisted never missing a beat of the needles.

Wait. Wait for what? Waiting she could handle so long as she knew what the outcome was, waiting for something uncertain-

"They're here!" Leroy shouted.

Doc turned around and swatted his head with a stack of papers and gave him a "shh" but it was too late, Neal had already begun to wail.

"Ow! Was that really necessary?!"

"Who's back?" she questioned moving back around the table and staring out the window. He was right. They were back and her heart felt like it resided in her chest as she searched the dozens of bodies she'd found for the ones that mattered. Guin and Arthur. They were on horseback together, her arms wrapped around his middle as they led the march up to the castle. Behind them…she didn't know just how much she'd been expecting to evacuate until she saw the sight before her and could hardly believe it.

David and Mary Margaret weren't on horseback, but they walked side by side. David's back was straight, his head held high in victory and next to him Mary Margaret was nearly the same. Her hand was in his. It was hard to tell from this distance, but they looked happy. She stared with her mouth open and tears in her eyes feeling defeated. Really? Was this really happening? It was hard to believe. She saw it, but it still just didn't feel right.

"That must be him then!" Leroy baulked.

"Lancelot!" she whispered in amazement. Her eyes swept over the knights that followed after David and Mary Margaret and landed on a lone man walking amid the mounted knights. He was dressed like a knight, but his hands remained at his waist as if he were bound. Arrested. Had he really tried to hurt Mary Margaret? She'd trusted him so much...

"I guess the fun's over," Granny concluded matter-of-factly. "Who's ready for dinner?"

"I am! I am!" Roland stated getting to his feet.

Finally, after a day of waiting the world shifted and moved around her. Granny put away the knitting and told Roland to clean up. The dwarves packed Neal and the toys away. One by one they left her loft with barely an acknowledgement, at least not one that she'd noticed. They went to dinner she supposed, but she remained behind.

She felt shocked. It certainly was a surprise! She'd been surprised before but this…this felt like shock.

David had been right. Lancelot and Mary Margaret were wrong and Arthur was…trustworthy?! He did want to help them? He wanted to help Emma?

No! No, it just didn't seem right and it wasn't just her gut feeling it! He knew that they had an issue with the Dark One! Supposedly they'd told him when he first showed them the tree! If he was so truthful why not confess that he could help then. Sure, he hadn't known that Emma was the Dark One, but a good person would volunteer information like that no matter what! They wouldn't keep it to themselves! Would they?!

And Lancelot? It just didn't make sense! He hadn't known that Emma was the Dark One, he had no reason to suspect that they had the dagger when David was Knighted and yet he'd risked his life to come back and warn Mary Margaret when there was nothing in it for him! If he was lying there was little sense in that!

But she knew what she'd seen! Lancelot in chains and Mary Margaret and David, walking together, happily, with King Arthur.

It was a trick. It had to be. They were trying to protect Emma. King Arthur was still the enemy they'd just…changed the plan for some reason. To…to…to protect Emma and Neal and…all of them? That certainly sounded like Mary Margaret and David. She didn't know how or why they'd done it but it had to be the answer. It was really the only thing that logically made any sense to her!

Rose still tucked against her arm, she pushed herself up out of her seat and strode toward the door, determined to find them. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she-

"Regina!" she screeched, coming to an abrupt halt as Regina and Robin Hood came quickly into the tower and closed the door.

"Something's wrong!" Regina insisted grabbing her arm and pushing her away from the door. Her heart began to race and she quickly located the bags she had stashed around the room.

"Just let me get the books and I'm ready to go to-"

"What? No, we're not leaving! We can't!" Regina insisted. "It's not a problem like that. At least not yet."

She stopped where she was and turned to look at her. It was a problem but not one that required them to leave as planned. "What's happening?" she questioned.

Regina shook her head. "I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out myself. But I know that Lancelot is sitting in the dungeon right now and Mary Margaret is suddenly singing Arthur's praising like a canary. David is one thing, but even if Arthur was trustworthy Mary Margaret doing it is another thing. And now their great idea is to give Emma's dagger to King Arthur so he can help her."

"You think he's lying?"

"I know he's lying," she snapped. "Think about it! Rumpelstiltskin couldn't free himself from that dagger, you think King Arthur can do it? You think we stand a chance of this working without Merlin? No…something else is going on here, something bigger than we expected, something we couldn't have expected."

Something they couldn't have expected? She closed her eyes because suddenly she understood what Regina was talking about. She hadn't talked to Mary Margaret or David since they'd arrived, she hadn't made it that far, but from the way she talked she understood that Regina had. Based on what she was saying, there was only one thing she could have meant.

"We can't trust David and Mary Margaret anymore…"

Regina stopped pacing and glanced over at her as if this was the first time someone had said it out loud. "Not until I get to the bottom of this," she muttered looking shocked at her own words.

"They're still our friends," Robin insisted by the door. She'd nearly forgotten that he was there. "We still love and care about them!"

"But Emma gave me her dagger for a reason. She trusted I'd take care of it and that's what I'm going to do, from Arthur or them. Until I'm convinced giving that dagger over to King Arthur is the right thing for Emma I'm not going to do it."

"And when will that be? We can only keep the dagger from them for so long until-"

"We'll stall them," Regina interrupted Robin. "We'll have to. For as long as we can and in the meantime…you've got work to do. You've got to get Merlin out of that tree. Now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Answers to questions: yes I'm going to add a little bit of time between 5x04 and 5x05 but only a couple of days. Why? Well, that why is what is responsible for this entire smaller story arc that we didn't see in the show. In the show we see Mary Margaret and David return, sing Arthurs praises, and Regina looking at them with suspicion and disbelief. The next thing we see in 5x05 she's willingly handing over the dagger. When has she ever done that? When has she ever ignored her own instincts and gone with what Mary Margaret and David said to do, especially when Emma is at risk? It just doesn't make sense and it felt to me like we skipped a chapter between 5x04 and 5x05 so I'm going to get it back for us. The nice thing is that when I brought out this particular story line I found it fit perfectly into the story as if it should be there and that is always proof enough for me so I hope you'll like where the rest of these chapters lead us. Oh, and another visit from Neal might very well be on the way again.
> 
> Things here in Orlando are finally beginning to wind down as far as emergencies go, but the lasting effects throughout this week are going to be felt. As my job has me working closely with children and families in times of distress I find myself suddenly with a great number of commitments. The great thing about Moments? All the chapters are written before I even begin to post the story, which means keeping up is a breeze since all I have to do is a final edit. The bad news is that while I appreciate all your comments I just don't have all the much time to get back to you for a few days. But I thank you for all your comments, your support, and for just letting me know you are out there reading. It means so very much to me especially in times like these when life is so bleak! Peace and Happy Reading!


	27. Questionable Conversations

"It's only been a few days, we can hold them off longer! I can tell them I did something wrong and the sampling potion didn't work! can tell them I need to make another one!" Regina insisted pacing back and forth between her.

"We can't Regina!" she argued quickly. "It's been a few days and they expected you to hand the dagger over immediately. For them it's been an eternity. It's not just Arthur we're hiding it from anymore it's Mary Margaret and David too! Arthur may believe that you are onto something with the tree but they know that we're at a dead end."

"I told them you needed it for more research."

"Which is why they came up here looking for it and why they stormed out of here when I had to say I didn't have it."

"You didn't tell them where it was did you?"

"I don't know where it is, Regina! Only you know that!" she shouted at her because she was tired of this old plan. It wasn't working. Three days in and she could already sense a change in the way people in the palace were treating them, in the way that Guinevere looked at them during breakfast, and the tone that King Arthur had taken when they were in the same room. Before he'd been polite, now he wasn't. Instead of small talk and kind conversations the only thing he could ask day in and day out was if their research took them anywhere. Regina has successfully stalled long enough by telling them that she was working on a potion that she believed would work. In fact the potion she was working on was the sampling potion she'd wanted to try weeks ago. No, they didn't want to harm Merlin, but she'd finally succeeded in convincing Regina to make it by reminding her that if push came to shove Merlin without a finger was better than no Merlin at all. She'd agreed, but not soon enough. If she'd begun it the moment she insisted upon it then they would have but a potion of this caliber was going to take a few days and when Mary Margaret and David had "paid her a visit" this morning it was clear to her that they didn't have days anymore.

Something was wrong. They weren't acting like themselves and they hadn't from the moment that they returned from their "test". They were acting crass and too swiftly. They had always complimented each other in the past, always had opposite points of view and yet remained united but now things were different. They both wanted that dagger. They acted like it was more important than Emma, on one occasion David had yelled at her, actually yelled at her. "Arthur needs it! It's for the good of Camelot!"

"Camelot?" she'd questioned back. "What about what's good for Emma?"

"What's good for Camelot is good for Emma!" Mary Margaret had insisted too forcefully. She'd seen what Regina had been talking about for herself now and she agreed. It was more than just a test gone wrong or a change of heart. It was a personality change that hadn't been natural at all. Since then she'd been researching, trying to figure out if she could come up with an explanation for their behavior but the truth was she was tired. She'd been reading and researching for a month, far away from Rumple and all thoughts of home...and after Mary Margaret and David had come into the tower and threatened to tear it apart brick by brick when she didn't hand over what they thought she was hiding she knew that she didn't have the strength to keep this up. None of them did.

"Look, Regina…they're under a spell, I know that now, you know that…but we can't keep this up. I can't simultaneously figure out what spell they are under and figure out how to free Merlin, _and_ continue to lie to Emma about it!"

"Hook and Henry keep her plenty busy and away from Arthur."

"Maybe they shouldn't," she countered. The words tasted sour in her mouth but just like when she'd convinced Regina to do the sampling potion she'd been wondering lately if there wasn't something more they should do. "We need to face the truth, Regina. You and I are not enough! Without Mary Margaret and David we could use her help and…maybe even…maybe we need her magic."

"No."

"Merlin's prophecy said we need the Savior, Regina. What if he's right?! Try as we may neither you nor I is the Savior, it might be something only Emma can do! If we're there to supervise her, if Killian is around to keep her grounded-"

"We need to solve this without Emma, without that black magic! But I think your right, we need a new plan."

She felt like she could scream. What new plan was there that didn't involve Emma? They were running out of options. Everyone had their jobs here and to switch them around now would be devastating not to mention suspicious to Arthur and now to Mary Margaret and David because even though she didn't know what had possessed them she could at least put together that Arthur was behind it. They were as good as his spies now. Emma wasn't.

"What we need to do is tell Emma and prepare for what is coming. We should evacuate."

"Or…"

"Or?"

"Or we play their game."

"Regina…"

"We want to know what Arthur is planning don't we? He has the sword...maybe we help each other!"

When two people both have something the other wants a deal can always be made, she knew that possibly better than anyone but this didn't sound like a deal and it didn't sound like success. It sounded like trouble waiting to happen.

"Regina it won't-"

"Stop working on Mary Margaret and David," Regina plotted as if she hadn't heard her. "I'll worry about them. Keep focused on Merlin, get him out of that tree as fast as you can."

"That could take days!"

"Then make sure it takes days and not weeks!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to give them what they want. They want the dagger I'll give it to them but no one says I have to let it leave my sight. I'm good at playing dumb, maybe I'll figure out what the hell King Arthur really wants to do with it! Do _not_ tell Emma! She doesn't need the stress..."

"Regina!" she cried but it was useless, she'd already left the room. And she felt like she needed to hit something! Or slap something! Or scream or just…

Read! She had to keep reading! Regina's plan was flawed and futile in her mind but she understood that they were between a rock and a hard place at the moment. The only way out of this was to free Merlin. The answer was here somewhere and keeping everything together hinged on her figuring it out as fast as she could! She'd been at this for weeks! Now suddenly she felt like she needed to put it together in only minutes!

So…what had she missed?! What didn't she know?

She put her head into her hands and rubbed her eyes. Maybe she needed to reread the journals again.

"Nah, you know that journal front and back!"

Neal was back. In her mind's eye he sat on the window sill, half in the tower half out of the tower. It wasn't real but the thought still made her stomach turn. "That's dangerous, you know."

Neal shrugged and leaned outward as if checking the height. "Good thing I'm already dead. You, on the other hand, and Henry and Emma could all be dead if you don't figure this out soon!"

"I'm trying to figure it out!" she snapped. "That's all that I've been doing for weeks!"

"So stop doing what you've been doing! Do something different!"

"Like what? Design a dress? Go for a ride in the country?"

"I didn't mean like that. I know what you know…you tell me what you need to do different!"

If she could figure that out then they might not be here! Why did she torture herself like this?! Why did she keep creating these riddles for herself? Maybe Regina was right to put her in that asylum…

"You're not focusing," Neal drawled. Stepping out of the window and to her side. "You know what's in the journal. Tell me what you missed."

She sighed, but played along, because everything else had failed. "Merlin wrote it, there are too many to read, some of them cover decades, this one is the final one before he disappeared," she listed with frustration.

"What else can you tell me about it?"

What else was there? "He…he fought the Dark One, he was in love with a woman named Nimue, the Dark One took her way and either killed her or kidnapped her, he was able to forge a dagger from Excalibur to control him and the night he disappeared he was going to meet the Dark One and finally destroy him for what he'd done to Nimue, and that's where the journal ends. From that we can safely assume the Dark One cursed him into the tree."

"How?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out."

"Really? It seems to me that instead of figuring out how the Dark One could trap such a powerful wizard in a tree so that he can't get out you've been trying to figure out how to free him."

She popped her head out of her hands at the suggestion and was once again in the room alone. But she didn't feel alone, not anymore, not with this idea growing in her mind. "Neal you're a genius!" she said with hushed excitement.

She pushed herself out of her chair and went for another book, a different book, one that was more recent, one that was all of today's magic that she'd stolen from the library! A curse. Instead of looking at what he was and how to free him she needed to focus on how it had happened. What kind of curse was it? If she knew what this was then she could break it! All curses could be broken!

"I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" she exclaimed happily.

"Think of what?"

Her head snapped up and this time it wasn't Neal standing before her. It was Emma. Wide eyed mouth gaping, voice quiet but still forceful. She glanced at the door. It was still closed. It was a loud door the chances she could open it without her hearing were small the changes she could open and close it without her hearing were impossible, even as distracted as she'd been!

"Emma, what…h-how did you get up here?"

Emma looked around the tower as though she was just now realizing that she was here. "I…I don't know I…was looking for answers about my parents and I just…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes finally settled on her again and then the book. She fought the rising shiver in her bones. She wasn't talking to herself this time, but somehow she seemed delirious. But…had she just mentioned…

"David and Mary Margaret…you know about-"

"They're under a spell," Emma blurted out quickly.

She could have sworn her heart stopped. "How do you-"

"I can feel the magic. There's magic everywhere in this castle, on nearly everyone, it's been growing and I can just…I can feel it all of a sudden. Everywhere but…but here, with you."

"Emma, maybe…maybe you should go find Killian or Henry."

"No it's…it's fine. They're safe. But if King Arthur…what did you find? What were you saying? Before…"

Should she tell her? She wasn't sure she should. She didn't know what was going on with Emma right now but somehow she seemed like a ghost right now, only a shadow of the woman that she'd been before all this happened! Maybe Regina was right. Maybe they needed to keep Emma far from all of this. Though she seemed to suddenly know what Regina had told her not to tell her. And this…it wasn't exactly like it could do any harm.

"The tree," she confessed. "What's the one thing we haven't figured out about it yet? It's how he got in the tree. We've been looking at what the tree is, is it glamor, is it Merlin himself, is he trapped within its essence, who put him in there, why? But we've never stopped to consider the how! There is a big part of it we've missed! Do you see it?"

"No, but I know enough not to stop you when you're on a roll."

"Magic!" she said with sudden relief. That statement had sounded like Emma. The spark in her eyes had returned even the tone of her voice had been normal again. She knew that including Emma was better for her than keeping her out of it. "Merlin has magic," she explained. "All these prophecies he gave to the Apprentice, the dreams that Arthur claims to have received, he chooses when to do it because he has magic! He has the ability to reach out from the tree so why can't he free himself?"

"Ingredients? Maybe he doesn't have the things he needs to get free."

"No, he could have asked for things in his prophecies but…what if…what if he can't break himself out because it was his magic that trapped him in the first place?"

"I'm not following. If it was his magic wouldn't he be able to get himself out?"

"Not if someone used his own magic in a curse against him," she corrected as it all fell beautifully and wonderfully into place. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. The one thing we know for sure about that night is that Merlin went off to meet the Dark One. They've been mortal enemies for centuries, it makes sense that their magic would be equally strong, they'd be able to always beat each other, cancel it out! Unless the Dark One used Merlin's own magic against him as well as his own. He used Light and Dark Magic together."

"Would that be enough to turn him into a tree and give him access to his own magic?"

She nodded. "If he used a bit of his own light magic tinted with darkness to bind him he'd be able to use his magic to do everything but free himself. It's a transfiguration _and_ a glamor spell. Regina and I were both right."

She felt relief course through her and knew instantly that she'd solved the riddle. She should have come up with this days ago.

"Theoretically, how does someone get someone else's magic? Is it like the ribbon thing Ingrid used?"

She shook her head. "Different spell. Getting someone else's magic is frighteningly easier than it sounds. I've used Rumple's time and time again through the gold he spun, though that's a bit more complicated. The easiest way would be through blood, sweat, or tears. Any of those would be enough to hold him and if they were going off to battle I imagine it wouldn't be hard to get them."

"So…how do we get him out?"

And that, unfortunately, was where her answers ended. "I don't know yet. Light and Dark magic would certainly be needed, powerful magic but how do use them and break him out…I'll have to figure out exactly how the spell was put together, exactly what the Dark One had and what he did to trap Merlin. We won't need his magic but we'll need a substance of the same make-up, the same emotions or mental determination to reverse it. Since the only one with memories of that is Merlin it'll take some experimenting, but I'm one step closer now. All I have to do is-

"Emma?"

She glanced over her shoulder, then across the table, back to the window and at the door.

She was alone.

Emma was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom. Mystery solved! I hope that this chapter was clear but at the same time I kinda hope it isn't. If it's a bit confusing it's that way on purpose. I wanted it to feel like we were just jumping right onto Belle's thought train and she was just going for it. It really was like those moment things fall into place. Also...for the record, I really hated that whole "Sisters" plot line with the "Oh no I can't heal her because it was my magic...well shucks" in 5B. This chapter was already written by then, but when I went back I found that this kinda gave that a little bit more validity. Not saying I was fine with the plot hole, just saying that I love it when Moments can take something stupid and put some actual thought behind it so that another thing doesn't sound as sudden and stupid. That's right, it takes fanfiction to fix the canon. You know there's a problem when that happens.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter. Thank you for leaving them and being so gracious. Peace and Happy Reading!


	28. The Granting of Temporary Trust

She wished that she had a cell phone. She wished that summoning Regina was as simple as saying her name three times! This system had a terrible fatal flaw that she hadn't seen until just now! It hinged on something going wrong on Regina's end of things, not on her end! What was she supposed to do now? She wasn't quite sure what happened when she'd talked to Emma, what it meant that Emma already knew about Excalibur and her parents. But she knew Regina needed to know about it! Now! Some of it she couldn't exactly be surprised about. Frankly she was surprised that Henry hadn't put the bit about Mary Margaret and David together yet, though he had been a bit distracted lately, spending a lot of time outside the castle, which she encouraged because she knew that here wasn't necessarily best for him. But the bit about the dagger and Arthur…how had Emma known that?

It didn't matter. She knew. She knew and she wasn't sure what Emma was planning on doing with the information but she knew that it couldn't have been good! So what was she supposed to do?

_Figure it out!_

The voice in her head came in the form of Neal. She hadn't closed her eyes, hadn't seen him standing before her but she heard it all the same. _Figure it out and beat Emma to the punch._ She figured that she was close. She had to figure out the spells that would be used to curse a person into a tree. If she did then maybe she could figure out how to break the curse and Regina could guide Emma, help her in a way that she couldn't because it seemed pretty obvious to her that no matter Emma's state they were going to need her for this. Regina could pretend to be the Savior for now but ultimately, according to Merlin, she didn't have the power they needed. It had to be Emma.

So she started with what she knew, the only place she could pick up. In order to steal someone's magic what the person took from them had to be significant. Blood had to be shed in sacrifice. Sweat had to be given in determination. Tears had to be taken with powerful emotion. If he'd been going off to avenge Nimue the Dark One could have taken any of those things. But if she'd had to guess…

It wasn't blood. Blood was too obvious and there were too many things it could possibly be used for. Not to mention, if she'd been Merlin going off to face anyone, let alone the Dark One, she would have made sure to cast a spell over herself so that she didn't bleed. There was too much that could go wrong if blood was taken.

But tears and sweat…that was different. She could easily see either of those things being used. His last journal entry had him not only emotional over Nimue but also determined to avenge her. If the Dark One really wore him down she could see him sweating with determination to save her. And tears, of course, all the Dark One would have had to do was say the wrong thing about Nimue and Merlin could have been in tears. So which was it?

Tears first.

She knew that it really could be either or but at this point she had to go what gave her the best shot. The truth was that tears were more commonly required in spells and in her mind they seemed easier to acquire. Sweat was less common and less concentrated. It could be driven by determination, but if it had been a hot night when they'd fought it would have been useless.

So, the way it worked in her mind was that Merlin and the Dark One faced off, at some point he said something about Nimue and Merlin cried, he got the tear then used Dark Magic to turn him into a tree and used his own Light Magic to bind him to it.

Maybe…maybe they didn't need Emma at all. Maybe they just needed to find a way to unbind him and Merlin would be able to free himself!

She opened her book up and found the binding spell. She'd need Regina to make it since she didn't have access to any of Rumple's magic.

Or did she?

Her eyes fell on the glass bell jar across the room. It had petals floating around it. It was linked to Rumple! And yes she knew it wasn't Rumple's magic that had done it but maybe that was better! It was the Blue Fairy's magic! That was stronger than his had been and probably better than using Dark One magic. Of course she hated the thought of using that rose for a purpose that wasn't helping Rumple…but if this worked then she'd be able to get back to him faster. She'd already been gone more than a month weeks. She needed to get home.

With a hard swallow she made her way over to the bell jar, picked it up off the table and for the first time since the Blue Fairy had given it to her reached her hand up inside of it. Nothing happened. The flower didn't fall from its magical suspension. It didn't rot or whither. Good signs. Her fingers reached out to close around one of the petals and she-

The door to the chamber suddenly slammed open. "Belle, get out!" Emma ordered with a cool voice as she marched into the tower.

She stared at her as though she'd just poured a bucket of cold water on top of her head.

"Excuse me?!" she demanded. Certainly she'd heard wrong. It was the only explanation. She'd never known Emma to be that cruel before! At least the Emma that she knew…

"Emma!" she glanced back at the door to find Regina standing there. It was an odd reprimand, a voice that was probably more suitable for a child, like Henry or Roland if they'd just done and said what Emma had said. When had Regina become the parent? When had she become the polite responsible one between them?

"I'm sorry but we need the tower and we can't waste time! The others should be preparing to evacuate the castle so that we can do our work!"

" _Your_ work!" she blanched at Emma's words, glancing at the pile of books and paper work she'd been practically buried under since they arrived!

"Look!" Regina stepped forward, grabbed her arm, and yanked he away from Emma. "There is a lot going on right now that I don't have time to explain and I'm not sure if anything will come of it. But someone needs to look after Emma and on the off chance what she's working on succeeds then she's right, everyone is going to have to evacuate as soon as possible."

"Regina..." she shook her head and drew her even further away from Emma, lowing her voice to a hush. "Something is not right. She was in here earlier and even you have to be able to see she's not acting like herself."

"No, but if she's going Dark do you really think you and one of your books is going to be enough to protect everyone from her?" She opened her mouth, but shut it again with a frustrated sigh. Regina didn't even need to fully state her traditional come back in this situation, she'd already heard it in her head. _"What are you going to do throw a book at her?"_ She hated that question. Not because it was demeaning but because usually it was true. Rumple and his magic was in Storybrooke nowhere near her at the moment. If something happened with Emma she was in no position to help herself or anyone for that matter.

"Go downstairs," Regina insisted. "Get the others together and prepare for an evacuation just in case. Find Robin, he'll help you. Henry is already outside of the castle and he's safer out there than in here. Stay in one place until I come to get you. It has to be me, don't take anyone else's word for it not even Emma's!"

"But what about you?! What about Emma?!"

"You're just going to have to trust that I've got her."

She huffed at that. Trust. From Regina? That was asking too much of her, especially after-

"Belle..." she glanced up into the face of the woman and found her stare firm but also strikingly desperate at the same time. "I didn't give you that opportunity to trust me when I took your heart. It was a mistake. But I'm giving it to you now...show me I was wrong."

Her plea left her speechless. Trust wasn't something that was given, not in her mind. It was something that had to be earned. Odd as it sounded until Regina had taken her heart she'd had her trust. At that point she hadn't had it for a long time, but she'd had it. They were never friends and only barely friendly toward each other but they had trusted each other and respected each other in some way.

What Regina had done weeks ago had ruined that. She thought that she'd misjudged her, never should have given her that trust to begin with. She still didn't know what had happened between her and Regina when she'd taken her heart and her memories away, she assumed that she'd never know especially if she only had Regina's word to take for it. But what about now? Could she trust Regina now, with this? With Emma? Asking to earn trust rather than just acquiring it seemed a lot more of a risk. Regina seemed willing to take it. Was she?

Her bell jar caught her eye and since she didn't want it to be seen the rose remained hidden. A long time ago, months ago, she would have trusted Regina without any hesitation no matter what she felt and thought about her. She'd been different then; gullible, naïve, but also more trusting. Gullible and naïve as she'd been she still missed that person. The one who had friends and family and the love a man that few would ever feel. She missed that woman. Hadn't that been one of the reasons she'd come here? To find her again? To see if she could get her back? For herself? For Rumple?

Asking to earn trust was a risk for Regina, actually doing it wasn't just a risk for her, it was granting trust for only a short while, on a trial basis.

With a sigh and less determination and assurance than she'd like, she reached walked forward and grabbed her bell jar. She reached under tables and behind shelves and gathered up the books she'd packed up not long ago and kept packed in anticipation of a moment just like this one. Regina walked her to the door and she left without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter like this has to be here. Why? Because the rest of this episode doesn't make sense without it. Look at the time line! Without a scene like this we have Emma and Regina deciding to team up in the tower, going to do their thing, then freeing Merlin before King Arthur. Then what? "Oh, sorry King Arthur, if you wouldn't mind before you hunt us down and kill us, could we just go into the castle and fetch the rest of our Storybrooke party of a million? 30 second head start? Yeah, thanks, great!" Doubtful. This episode was great for Emma and Regina, but it had a lot of holes in it for the rest of them, so with your permission I will roll up my sleeves and see how I can handle these things!
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	29. The Given Order

"Haven't we already done this?" Granny drawled with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm hungry," Leroy complained. "We've been here for hours, can't we at least get some dinner now."

"Regina said to stay put no matter what," she insisted.

"Now you trust Regina?" he blanched, pointing out the obvious.

"It's a work in progress," she muttered more to herself than to Leroy. No, she didn't trust Regina, she probably wouldn't for a very long time but she did trust good logic and knew that Regina's arguments in the tower had all been better than her own. Until she had a better idea or learned magic herself to keep everyone safe it wasn't Regina, but rather her argument, that she was trusting. She just wished she could say the same for the others. They remembered very clearly the last time that this had happened and that it had ended with nothing happening. They were not exactly happy now about having to do it all over again especially if the result was going to be the same. Killian didn't take kindly to it either. He'd been looking for Emma when she and Robin finally found him and convincing him not to go after her and corralling him into the small room hadn't been an easy task. He wanted to see Emma. She understood that, but they just couldn't let it happen. In the end Robin Hood had finally convinced him to help quietly search the castle for Zelena. They hadn't returned yet. But she was hoping it would be soon. They were supposed to be together and she didn't like the idea that they were apart even now. Besides, she had a wicked thought of her own that if they had to leave one person behind, she wouldn't lament it being Zelena.

"Well that work in progress has me starving," Leroy snapped back at her. "The others are out can't we just get a bit of food for the wait? Roland's hungry too, aren't you Roland."

The boy was intelligent and didn't say anything. "We stay here until-"

The door to the room they were huddled in opened and she held her breath for a moment. But the woman who stepped through it wasn't Regina. It was Zelena. She looked around the room with a sneer, clearly unhappy to be back in a tight space with them all before she saw Robin Hood and Killian appear over her shoulder. "In you go!" Robin muttered giving a little shove against her back. Zelena rolled her eyes and shuffled inside.

"She was hiding out with some of the other servants in the kitchen," Killian added closing the door behind the pair.

"She didn't tell them anything did she?!" Happy exclaimed.

Zelena gave him an incredulous look, motioned to her throat, then gave another gesture as if to say "how, you ignorant little dwarf?!" before folding her arms and sitting down on the footstool Robin offered.

"Still can't talk, huh?" Granny observed. "Serves you right."

Zelena launched herself out of her seat-

But Robin caught her before she could go much farther and set her back down. "That's enough out of you!" he commented. "We'll tie you up if you can't abide to that." She glared at him, but otherwise didn't make any attempt to move. And now that Robin Hood and Killian had returned with her that meant that they had everyone they needed. Odd how small a room could suddenly be with the appearance of two more people.

"Anything from Regina yet?" Robin questioned stepping up next to her.

"Have you seen Emma?" Killian demanded.

She shook her head and sat down in a chair with the jar on her knee. The bags were heavy all together, the first thing she'd done when she got here was break them up and give them to others to carry in the event that they had to run. They'd fetched their clothes again as well and picked up a few of the toys Roland had acquired just in case. The bags were spread around the room but she couldn't let anyone else carry her jar. This was her burden to bear.

"Nothing yet," she informed them.

"We've been here for hours, are you gonna tell us we can't go too?!" Leroy demanded stepping up to the man. She'd give him one thing, he didn't let the fact that he was at least a foot and a half shorter than either of them intimidate him. Leory looked just as serious as ever.

"Regina's orders," Robin insisted siding with her. "I'm sure she had her reasons and until then we should remain hidden."

"We're not exactly hiding," Doc commented.

"Hiding in plain sight," Robin amended smoothly. "Regina insists-"

"What does Mary Margaret say?" Leroy demanded. "I don't want to hear about Regina's plans, I want to know what Mary Margaret and David think about all this!"

Robin opened his mouth but then glanced over at her as if asking for help. He was just as unsure about who knew what as she was. She'd nearly forgotten how hard it was keeping secrets from others. Even if she was occasionally convinced those secrets were necessary.

"Mary Margaret and David want what is best for everybody just like Regina does," she answered as easily as possible. "The Mary Margaret you know would want us to stay here and wait for Regina's signal."

Because the Mary Margaret that had been wandering the halls of this castle over the last few days was certainly not the Mary Margaret that either of them know. The same went for David.

No matter what the truth was Leroy seemed to accept it, though if his grimace was any suggestion he wasn't satisfied by it.

"The dwarf is right," Killian added. "It's been hours. The sun set hours ago, it's been nearly all day and this room tells us nothing of what is happening out in the castle! Perhaps we should find Regina and ask for ourselves!"

She took a breath to respond but suddenly thought better of it and fell back into her chair to let Robin handle it. Killian was going to think what Killian was going to think, same as everyone here, and she felt like she'd spent all day explaining it. Besides, she didn't need to add a lie she truly didn't believe to her weight of sins. The truth was that Killian was right. She believed that Regina had put them here for a reason, but she'd expected that they'd have heard something by now! An order to evacuate. Henry. Instructions. A new plan. At this point she would be satisfied if Regina came in under a spell! It seemed better than living in this endless stage of waiting, with Neal's cries for his mother and Roland's complaints about boredom to remind them of the passing of time.

Passing of the time…

Before her eyes the glass of her rose melted away to reveal struggling flower. She hadn't even known that she'd wanted or needed to see it! But apparently it had. Or maybe…

Maybe it had wanted her to see it.

In the midst of her sorrow and fear she saw a wonderful and miraculous sight. One of the petals floating around the stem suddenly floated upward, fixed itself around the bud, and began to glitter again.

She gasped and nearly dropped the jar.

"Belle? What's happening?" she heard Robin ask but her eyes remained fixed on the jar, waiting, hoping that more would rise! But they didn't. Still, a petal had just magically healed instead of falling to its death. Rumple's poor conditioning had been slowly worsening from the beginning. Was it possible this was a turning point and he was getting better?

"Belle!"

She glanced up at Robin Hood who peered down at her with a look of genuine concern because he just didn't understand. "Didn't you see?" she asked. "The rose, it…it-"

Suddenly the door to the room they were in slammed open.

"There you are!" Regina declared. "I was beginning to think you'd all left."

"Nearly," Leroy muttered.

"We're here," she inserted ignoring him. "What's going on? What's happening?!"

"Regina is there something we can do?" Robin asked stepping closer to her and grabbing her hand.

"Where's Emma?" Killian demanded through gritted teeth.

She barely looked him over before turning and responding to Robin Hood instead. "You can leave," she stated immediately. Behind her she heard movement and knew that the others were taking a step closer to her just as she had. Leave?! Leave as in leave this room? Or leave as in leave the castle for good?!

"You want us to evacuate?"

"Now, fast, quietly," Regina stated glancing over her shoulder. She didn't know what or who she was looking for but suddenly she grabbed the two of them and pulled them out into the hall. Killian invited himself even through Regina's eye roll. "Take them out the back, don't go out the front and risk being seen."

She felt her jaw drop at the command. She knew that was a possibility but she hadn't know just how much of a possibility it was until now! Or maybe it was that until now she believed that it would be like last time when Regina told them to go about their business as though nothing had changed. Somehow she hadn't expected something as simple as "leave". "What's happening?" she interrupted quietly for fear the walls had ears.

"Not enough time to explain," she whispered looking over her shoulder again. "It'll have to wait for later but Emma and I think that we can free Merlin tonight and we need to make sure everyone is safe first. So you need to leave and you need to do it discreetly so no one in this castle realizes that something is happening."

"I want to see Emma," Killian growled.

"Not now!" Regina spat. "She's busy and I need to be too if this is going to work."

"What about Mary Margaret and David? Henry?! It's been hours!" she inserted carefully.

"Henry shouldn't be back for a long time, if you should stumble across him take him with you if not I'm betting he's at the diner-"

"The diner?"

"Long story, we'll tell it later. As for the other two, they've gone missing."

"Missing?!" Killian blanched.

"Yes, so do yourself a favor and stop talking about what you don't understand!" Regina snapped before turning back to the two of them. "Emma froze them in the woods and when I went back to check on them they were gone. The spell must have worn off. If they get here and tell Arthur what they know then it'll be disastrous."

"So you're just going to leave them here?" she questioned.

"I'll handle it!" she insisted. "One way or another I will get them out of here. If I can handle my sister I can handle them! But first we need to focus on Merlin and you need to get _them_ out! Go to Granny's, stay with Henry," she whispered as her eyes darted around again. "We'll meet you there and everything will be fine! Stay together and get everyone out!"

"Us?" she blanched glancing at Robin and his bow and Hook with his sword. They were good but against an army... "Regina, we have no magic! Zelena is tied up, shouldn't you or Emma come with us?"

She shook her head. "Hook can babysit my sister and between the two of you I think you'll manage to get the rest out safely and quietly. Magic has nothing to do with getting out of here. You're the only ones that I trust to be competent enough to do this!" she insisted pushing the door back open. It smacked against something and a moment later when the door opened she saw that all three of the dwarves had themselves pressed against it, listening.

Granny glared at Regina from her place at the window where she hadn't moved. "I heard that," she drawled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie dokey, this chapter was complicated because the rest this episode was so convoluted. I had to get the others out to meet them at the diner before Regina and Emma freed Merlin because that just seemed like a given. Oddly enough what bugged me about this episode was how out of character they wrote Hook. Strange for me, I know, but it was certainly a moment of "well, they screw him up just like every other character!" Hook has been by Emma's side throughout this entire thing, the worse she seems to get the closer he gets to her and yet in this episode when Emma was clearly on the fence from the beginning, Hook was no where to be found. It was just silly to me. Also, with the rose...I was a bit surprised when I wrote this but I liked it when I did. If the rose petals can fall off slowly then they can be replaced slowly and considering that it's after this episode that Belle's bell jar just kind of randomly disappears (not just in Storybrooke but in Camelot as well...nice going A&E) I liked being able to get that freedom and thought of "well, maybe he's getting better!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments. I'm so glad that you are liking this and that the holes are being filled in. I know it's not perfect but I did my best and I know that it's at least better than the nothing the creators gave to us! Peace and Happy Reading!


	30. The Evacuation

Regina's order seemed to shake the group into their sense of mind again. Instead of complaining or fighting against the inevitable, insulted as they were, the moment Regina left they all picked up their bags, whether it was a bag of clothes or books, Killian roughly grabbed Zelena's elbow and forced her to her feet. Granny took Neal, and Leroy swung an only half awake Roland into his arms. "We'll follow if you lead," he answered with a shrug in her direction.

She looked at Robin, who put a quiver of arrows over his shoulder and pulled one out fitting it into the bow, the only useful weapon they had on them at the moment. He was ready. She took after his example, wrapped a pink floral cloak over herself, and nodded. Now or never.

They didn't take the main stairs down the hall as they always did. Instead, at Robin's suggestion, they took a servants door in the back of Mary Margaret and David's room, or their former room. It was small, all of them, even her and the dwarves, had to duck in order to get through it and Leroy had to hand Roland off to her in order to fit, but they made it through into almost nothing. On the other side they were met with a dark grey hallway, one that was only sparsely lit with torches every few feet. There were spider webs and a squeaking she thought might come from rats at her feet. She tried not to think about it.

"Do you know where this comes out?" she questioned moving forward again to find Robin.

"No idea, but I guess we'll find out." Robin proceeded down the hallway slowly, with his bow drawn, checking around corners, over his shoulder.

"Not exactly encouraging, mate," Killian drawled behind her. She was surprised just how quiet everyone managed to remain as they went down the stairs they found and finally saw moonlight. And something else. There was a door, or the frame of a door. It was iron and designed like a jail cell but what was more surprising was before the door, the stairs disappeared into water.

"Should we go back?" Doc asked behind her, his voice echoing in the stone hallway.

Robin stared ahead of him his breathing rough as he confronted the water or the gate, she couldn't be sure which. "We can find another way," she informed him. "There must be dozens of ways out of this place."

"We don't have time," he insisted after a beat.

"Robin!" she called but he already had stepped down into the water. One step. Then two. Then three. That was it. The water only went up to his knees and sloshed as he strode through it but at the other end of the hall the iron door gave way at only his touch. It groaned as though it hadn't been opened in ages and Robin immediately pulled his bow taunt again as he looked all around him and then…up?!

She watched with bated breath as he wandered around and then finally out of sight. Behind her someone moved but she held out her arm and stopped them. She was nervous and curious and about a million other emotions just as they were, but the last thing they needed was to walk into ambush. They couldn't hear anything from above but she imagined that if anyone went to their quarters and were unable to find any of them then they might raise an alarm of some kind. That was what they didn't need.

"I don't like this..." she heard Granny mumble behind her. It made her heart pound faster than it had been before. How could the stillness and silence be so unnerving? Where was Robin?

She swallowed then took a timid step down the curved staircase, hoping that with the right angle she might be able to spot him. More of the water came into view with a reflection of the moon and something long and straight she couldn't make out, but still, no-

"It's fine!" She jumped as Robin appeared around the corner. "We're below the draw bridge, in the moat. It's not that deep. We can make it across to the other side and disappear into the forest. Come on Roland." Robin placed his bow in the quiver and reached out for his son.

"Looks like we're getting wet," Killian commented before she heard footsteps behind her. They were getting wet…well if it got them out of here…

She pulled her cloak off of her, balled it up and held it secure against her chest with the same arm that held her jar while she bundled her skirts up in her other hand. She knew she couldn't keep dry completely, but it was a chilly night, it would help if she could at least keep her cloak dry.

With the others she splashed forward into the chilly water and held her breath so she wouldn't gasp at temperature as it filled her shoes. They moved slowly and yet as quickly as they were able without disturbing the water so they'd be seen. It was dark out, later at night, but the moon was full and it was easy to see. Besides, while Roland was half asleep and Neal was completely asleep, above them in the castle they could hear low murmuring voices. People were awake. But so far nothing about their tones suggested that anything was wrong.

They crept under the bridge as they moved until they got to the far side of the moat and confronted their next problem. The cliff to get up on the land was at least twice as high as they were.

"Now what?" Leroy questioned aloud quietly.

"The shelf tapers off about a mile down that way," Robin commented glancing around himself. "It won't be easy, but we should be able to get up from there."

"Any tips to avoid being seen?" Leroy asked looking upward. At the moment they were sheltered by the draw bridge and the shadows it gave, the moment they stepped out from under the bridge they would be at the mercy of anyone who just so happened to take a glance out over the bridge. And considering it was a bright night...

From behind her a hand emerged. Zelena. She pushed herself into the middle of them and waved her hand with that cuff on it as she strained her eyes looking at them like they were all stupid. "Not in a million years, love," Killian responded taking hold of her arm again. She agreed. They weren't going to free Zelena to help them with this. The moment they removed that cuff she'd be in business for herself and not for them. For now if they had to walk through the muck and grim for a mile to get to safety then they were better off. Zelena was far more suitable as dead weight and-

"Hey!" Killian hissed as Zelena began to throw what she could only describe as a temper tantrum. She began kicking her legs, stomping her feet, doing anything and everything to splash in the water and make noise!

They all made a move to contain her but she held out her hands to silence the others and stop their motions when she saw Killian pick her up off her feet. She squirmed and struggled against him, making it difficult not to slosh the water and force him to move. There was motion overhead at the wrong time. Her heart beat as she realized that guards had noticed the disturbance and were coming to investigate and-

Granny stepped forward so deftly it eerie. With Neal in her arms she managed to reach up and pinch Zelena just at her neck. The witch fought her off as Killian restrained her-then went limp in his arms. Her eyes widened as she looked at Granny but the gaze she returned was just over her shoulder. Robin. He made a motion to slosh through the water, to check Zelena, to make sure the wolf hadn't killed her...but the voices!

She reached out a hand and placed it against his chest, stopping him in place and held a finger to her lips before pointing up. The voices were clearly above them and when she gazed out into the direction of the water she could see two heads glancing down into the lake.

"It's nothing," one was saying. "It's probably just a fish that's found a frog."

"Too big for a fish," the other commented as he continued his investigation.

"It's a school of fish then! The cook probably just tossed the remains of dinner into the lake again. They smell food." She held her breath and said a silent prayer that the man would believe the one that wanted to dismiss them, a prayer that Neal wouldn't cry, that Zelena wouldn't wake up...

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Robin move. He roused Roland in his arms and motioned for him to be quiet before setting him back on the ground. The boy stood absolutely still even with the shock of the cold water and she watched as Robin pulled not one but three arrows from his quiver arranged them just right and fired them in the opposite direction the men were looking. She didn't understand what he'd done, not until the men heard the noise and quickly abandoned their post to look out the other side. "There, see...nothing but fish," she guard dismissed again as they stared at the new disturbance. It took time, but eventually she heard the footsteps of the men walking away. She breathed out a sigh of relief and shed tears. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she'd ever been so scared in her life.

"What did you do to her?" Robin hissed looking the limp Zelena over the moment it was safe again.

"She'll be fine, she'll wake up soon enough and hopefully we'll be far away from here when she does."

Robin looked skeptical, like he wanted to question the woman for a fully explanation and understand what she'd done. But their situation didn't allow for it, not when Roland was quick to tug on his fathers arm and Leory stepped around Granny to say "Are we going or what?" Yes, Robin looked angry, but she also knew him to be one of the most sensible people she'd ever met, upset as he was he turned to pick Roland up again and muttered "stick to the shadows, stay as close as you can to the shelf, and move slowly. Arrows won't save us if they find us this time."

It took them nearly an hour. The kids were shuffled once again. Leroy took little Neal, Granny carried Roland, Zelena for fear she'd do something stupid when she woke, was tied up and Killian continued to carry her as though she was noting but a swooning damsel. Robin armed himself with a bow and together they moved carefully, slowly, and quietly away from the bridge. She and Killian led the way as Robin walked backward, keeping his eye on the castle and all who were there on the off chance someone saw them. Once they were away, far away, they allowed themselves to splash loudly through the water as they did their best to run. Eventually Robin pointed out the slope he'd told them about. It wasn't as gradual as she'd hoped, but Robin and Leroy were able to hop up onto the top. She and Killian hoisted the kids, the books, the clothes, her jar and cloak, then Granny, Happy, Doc, Zelena, and finally the pair of them up onto dry land.

Zelena woke up, just as promised. She wasn't happy about it but fortunately for them there was very little she could do. It was cold. Her clothes were wet. She was tired. Their load was heavy. But they weren't out of the woods yet. Literally. In fact it was quite the opposite. From the edge of the cliff they wandered deeper into the forest, back through the woods they hadn't trekked since they first arrived in Camelot weeks ago. She would have been lost in three seconds, even with the moonlight to light their way...but Robin Hood was a good tracker, possibly one of the best besides Mary Margaret and he led them quickly through the forest.

The diner was right where they'd left it in the middle of the woods. Which was a problem that she hadn't considered until the moment that they all stared at it from the clearing. "We won't be able to stay long," she realized. "Arthur knows where this place is, when he realizes we're missing it's the first place that he'll look."

"Well hopefully we'll have enough time for Regina and the others to meet us here first. We can decide what happens after that," Robin responded. "You all go inside, I'll sit out here and keep watch just in case."

She nodded. "I'll stay with you," she agreed. She may as well, she couldn't even begin to fathom what Regina and Emma were doing, where Henry was, or what had become of Mary Margaret and David, but she knew that cold and tired as she was, there was no point in even trying to sleep until she knew.

"I'll take the back," Killian insisted before glaring down at Zelena with a wicked grin. "In the meantime I've got the perfect place for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did they make it out of the castle when all that was going on? It bugged me because it seemed like Regina and Emma were only focused on their mission and after seeing how angry Arthur was when he caught them I figured they had to be gone before it happened because otherwise the first thing he'd do would be to place them under arrest. I know it's filler, but I kind of like this chapter. It's another of those awesome moments when you realize just how many people are in Camelot and how many of them were neglected in awful ways. But they made it out in my version so there's one plot hole filled.
> 
> If you can believe it we've got another six chapters before we get to the events of 5x06. The next few in between chapters are some of my favorite in this fiction. I got to do a lot of free writing with the time between and that's always fun. Not to mention Belle and Merlin's friendship is really going to start to bloom this week. I hope you'll enjoy it! Peace and Happy Reading!


	31. Noble, Charming, and Confused

The others went into the diner while she and Robin planted themselves on the front steps and kept their eyes peeled, difficult as it was. The night air was cold around them, their clothes were still wet, though she managed to pull her cloak around her shoulders she still couldn't help but shiver. Behind them, Granny's diner hummed with momentary electricity. "Just enough to get everybody into bed," Granny explained when she came outside and brought them both blankets and, much to her surprise, two plates of cooked lasagna. Granny explained to a confused Robin that she liked to be prepared for anything at her diner and weren't they lucky that she had spare blankets around. She didn't bother to question the blankets, she was too cold for it. Instead she eagerly took both the plate and the blanket. The blanket she draped blanket over her legs and the plate of lasagna, she quickly shoveled a couple of bites into her mouth. A blanket and lasagna, it wasn't much, but it was something at least.

"Did you make this just now?" she asked cutting off another piece.

"Nope, it was already made when we got here, just had to heat it up."

She felt her body still. "What do you mean it was made when we got here?"

"I mean a table was set for two, the lasagna was made, and the place was empty."

She swallowed and resisted the urge to get up and inspect the building herself. The place was empty. According to Granny, at least, and with her sense of smell if she said it then it was probably true. But still, the fact that everything was ready for them like that gave her chills that didn't come from the weather. Regina had said Henry was already here.

"Henry?" she questioned.

"If the soda left out on the table is any indication then I'd say that's a good guess. Hook thinks he was with a girl but won't say much else about it."

The news easied her. A girl. The mysterious disappearance of Henry, the reason why he wasn't on the grounds as much these days. Henry had a girlfriend? She found herself smiling at that thought. He was growing up so fast, too fast. She wished Neal was around to see it, she hoped that Rumple would be…

"Where are the others?" Robin asked after swallowing a bite and distracting her from checking her rose.

"Kids are asleep, they were too tired to do much else and lucky us we have two bedrooms on the top floor above the diner that came with us. Zelena is locked up, dwarves are on guard duty, and I'm going to keep watch over the hole in the back of the place with the pirate. Best guard dog is one with two heads."

"When you say Zelena is 'locked up'…" Robin prompted.

Granny broke into a mischievous grin. "I wouldn't worry. A little bit of cold never hurt anyone and makes for tough babies," she explained before walking back into the diner.

"Did she…did she just tell us she locked Zelena in the refrigerator?" Robin questioned with mixed amazement and confusion.

She shrugged. If she had, it wasn't horrible. She could think of worse places to put her, but none that were really better. And she was right, it wasn't as though a little bit of cold would hurt her, or the baby. "She'll be fine," she eased. "In a few minutes she'll turn the generator off. The refrigerator will stay locked but not cold. Do you really think Henry might have a girlfriend?! From here? From Camelot?!"

"It wouldn't come as a terrible surprise, his grandfather has been known to go by the name Charming and his father quite clearly passed on an ability to be a noble man. Isn't that what most women fall for?"

She smirked. Charming and noble. Wasn't that what she had fallen for so long ago? It had been a long time since she'd used those words to think of Rumpelstiltskin, at least outside of the story book he'd put them into, but the first time he'd offered her a rose and asked her to dance, he'd certainly been the most charming man she'd ever known then. And the way he'd saved her from those wretched women when they'd kidnapped her and then spared Hook because she'd asked him to what seemed like an eternity ago…he'd been noble then. He could be noble when he wanted to be, when she needed him to be. She just wished that he could be noble for a cause other than his own, something besides her. Even if she was the only one to see the deed, she didn't like being his only motivation to do half-hearted good!

"I suppose we all do have a weak spot for something like that," she whispered before taking another bit of food looking around the grounds. "Regina said Henry would be here through. Do you think he's alright?"

"Regina wouldn't dismiss him easily with danger around. I'm sure the farther away he is from all this the better. And when Regina comes back I'm sure she'll retrieve him just to be sure. In the meantime, he's probably off wooing the young lady like any lad would. He's respectful, smart, and resourceful. I'm more worried about Regina and Emma to be honest."

They ate in companionable silence and kept watching the forest for movement and sound. A pair of deer wandered into their area once, but were frightened away when Granny opened the door to collect their plates. A few moments later the sign above them illuminating "Granny's Diner" and the lights inside went off. The humming of the generator died away and she pulled her cloak and the blanket tighter around her.

Robin was kind. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed him since their time in the Enchanted Forest until they had this opportunity to sit together and talk. They were both nervous for those of their number unaccounted for and it made them talk about far more than she'd expected to. Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, New York, even Neal. They'd had a lot in common and been great friends before he died. Robin Hood had helped Neal find the cabin, helped him hunt, and spent ample time with both of them in the cabin and at the castle. He'd helped her after Neal had gone, working in the library to figure out Zelena's terrible plan. He was like an older brother. Not in the way that Neal had been, but enough so that they were both comfortable when she started shivering and he put and arm around her back and allowed her to lay her head against his shoulder as they spoke. With Ruby and Neal gone, with Rumple away…it was nice to have a friend again.

Until he suddenly tensed by her side and his neck craned in an alertness that he hadn't while they'd sat there. "What's wrong?" she questioned as he glanced around.

"Do you hear something?" he questioned. She strained her ears at his question and concentrated. Yes. There was something.

"Footsteps?" she questioned. Robin Hood nodded and rose from where he was. He pulled out his bow and arrow and trained it into the forest before him. "Henry?" she reminded him.

He only shook his head. "Too many footsteps to be Henry." More than one person. She had no weapon, but she know others who would. "I'll get the others," she informed him before going into the diner. At the makeshift door in the back of the inn, crafted from a broken piece of wood, she found Granny, holding a small crossbow, and Hook with a sword on his hip. Certainly better armed than she was. "People out front!" she informed them. Simple as it was that was all that they needed. Killian dashed around her toward the front and Granny moved about as fast as she could around the dwarves guarding Zelena before ordering Leroy to keep his eyes on the back, just in case. She followed and watched safely from the window, preparing to gather the kids and the dwarves and run into the forest if they needed too-

"Regina!" Robin Hood called out only a moment before jumping off the porch and running into the darkness.

Killian muttered something she couldn't make out through the glass before sheathing his sword and also running off the porch. That alone eased her. One person might make a mistake, two wouldn't. And before she knew it she could see movement through the dark as people suddenly came into focus.

Emma first. It was dark out, but her white gown stood out easily in the full moon, the man beside her she assumed was Killian. Robin and Regina came next with…she breathed a sigh of relief. Henry was with them keeping up as they moved toward the diner. But the person after him…

There was a problem.

The man behind her she didn't recognize. It was no one that she'd ever run into at the castle. But it wasn't so much who was there that worried her as who wasn't there.

"David and Mary Margaret?" she questioned as they made their way up the stairs and into the diner.

"They're fine," Emma answered quickly.

"Or at least they will be," Regina added. They were breathing heavily, Regina was nearly completely supported by Robin as she stood.

"Did you run here?!" she questioned.

"We freed Merlin and Arthur is not happy about it!" Emma explained.

"We had to be sure they wouldn't follow too closely behind," Regina nodded as Robin deposited her in chair.

"We can't stay here. They know where the diner is!" she pointed out quickly.

"If you wouldn't mind, I can easily take care of that for you. It would be my pleasure and my honor after how you've helped me."

The room once loud with activity, even in the dark, suddenly got quiet as all eyes landed on the man. She forgot about Mary Margaret and David as she stared at the stranger with them before she managed to put it all together. "You're Merlin," she realized.

"In the flesh," he smiled before curling his mouth in a silent laugh, "much better than my bark in this case."

Her open mouthed stare turned into a wide smile. "You did it!" she exclaimed glancing over at Regina in the booth. But the excitement in her belly faded at Regina's less than amused smile. "How did you do it?" she demanded glancing over at Emma.

"We'll explain later," Regina drawled. "Right now you're right, we need to leave this place. Where are the others?"

"Upstairs, in the back, wherever there's room-"

"I'll do a head count!" Granny volunteered striding into the back.

"Regina…how did you free Merlin?" she demanded again, looking her over. The longer she didn't answer, the more and more her stomach knotted. No. Emma hadn't…she couldn't have…

"All present and accounted for!" Granny called out after a few harsh moments of silence.

"Then I suppose the rest is up to me," Merlin said grinning wide.

"What about David and Mary Margaret?!"

"They're fine!" Regina insisted before standing and looking at Merlin. "Get us out of here!"

"With pleasure."

She watched in amazement as he opened his arms wide with his palms facing the ceiling. His fingers twitched and wiggled and seemingly out of nothing sparks began to jump, first between his fingers, then from finger to palm, they continued to grow and grow until they finally jumped from hand to hand, touched the ground, touched the ceiling, and the feeling of electricity in the air grew and hummed in a way it hadn't when the generator had been on. Her hair stood on end but suddenly it was Merlin himself who seemed to vibrate and shake. He forced his hands into fists slowly, as if he were squeezing something of substance instead of air, then looked up to the ceiling and opened them. Blue light illuminated the room and then the very diner itself. The building shook. Glass clattered, chairs moved, the others fought to brace themselves, she held on tight to her rose. The light was blinding. And somewhere in between all of it the calm sure voice that belonged to Merlin sounded in her ear as smooth as warm caramel.

"You might want to hold your breath."

She gasped and the bright world went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say that Belle was going to get to have some good talks with the characters that she didn't often get to talk to didn't I? Let's just call these next few chapters the chapters of heart to hearts. She'll have a good talk with Henry in a few chapters, one with Merlin just after that, and I promise you that she's going to be important to plotting out what we saw in the beginning of 5x06 because surprise surprise...I didn't like it. That one wasn't as awful a blunder some of the others that bothered me and I could sort it out with a few quick chapters but without them it just felt odd to me.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter! Much appreciated! I'm glad that you liked their great escape and I hope that you'll enjoy all the planning that happens with this wonderful week of heart to hearts! Peace and Happy Reading!


	32. The Missing Piece

She gasped.

From out of the black, light flooded the world around her and she had to close her eyes against it. She had a headache. Not a bad one exactly, but enough of one that the sudden burst of light bothered her. Slowly, she squinted her eyes open, and looked around at the rest of the people in the room who also appeared dazed and confused as they looked around them. Until-

"It's morning!" Regina blanched, her chest heaving as though she'd just run a marathon.

She was right. When she spun around and looked out the windows she realized that day light was streaming in through the windows. And that wasn't the only thing that was different. Her chest hurt. She felt like someone had managed to reach inside of her and give her lungs a squeeze so that every bit of air inside of them had gone! She did her best to catch her breath as tried to talk stalk of the rest of her body. Air was the first problem, but not the only problem. Her mouth was dry, her stomach empty enough to growl, and she was hot…too hot.

"My clothes are dry!" she realized patting herself down before setting her bell jar aside and removing her cloak. The glass cleared the moment she stared at it. No change there at least. That was something.

"Yes," Merlin smiled. "You may feel a bit odd. I've moved us not just across space, but time as well."

"Time!" Killian echoed. "Bloody hell, backwards or forwards."

"Forwards of course. Only by a day or so. Moving backwards in time is a trick not even I've mastered, the consequences of going into the past could be-"

"Bad," Emma interrupted. "We know, been there, done that…don't really need to do it again."

"Well now…you are a surprising character Emma Swan. More so than I anticipated."

Emma opened her mouth but appeared speechless at the comment. "I…I don't know-"

"Papa! Papa!" Roland suddenly bound into the room and then jumped into Robin's arms faster than anyone who tried to catch him. Robin was prepared though, and held him fast in his arms as he looked him over. "The sun is out and I'm not sleepy anymore!"

"I know, I know! It's quite remarkable isn't it!" Robin commented with a smile before casting an uncertain gaze at Merlin.

"Young Roland!" Merlin smiled looking the pair over. "I believe you'll find a well outside now, perhaps you'd like to get something to drink."

"Papa, can I?"

"Only as long as Granny goes with you," he answered after glancing out the window. Granny strode forward and took Roland by the hand before leaving the diner with nothing but an odd look at Merlin.

"Where are we?" Emma questioned looking out the window. They really were in a different place. The land around them wasn't as flat as it had been before, it was sloped, and the trees, they were pine, all of them, a far cry from the variety of foliage they'd had only a few seconds ago!

"Outside of Camelot, somewhere beyond Arthur's reach, beyond that I'm afraid the land has changed much during my time of imprisonment and I can't be sure our exact location."

"Wait…'somewhere beyond Arthur's reach'…what does that mean?" she questioned.

Merlin nodded and began a slow pace around the diner as he reached into his pocket. "I sense something dark in Camelot, a strong and powerful enchantment, the same enchantment that I sense on your friends…" In one swift motion he pulled a fisted hand out of his pocket and blew. The area before him shimmered glowed, she took a step back out of the way involuntarily.

It wasn't necessary. The glow only grew to the size of a person. Two people to be exact. A very frozen David and Mary Margaret. They didn't move, their faces were frozen, eyes staring blankly into nothing. Mary Margaret's mouth was open, her eyes wide, if she had to choose an emotion, she'd say that when she'd been frozen in time she had been angry. Beyond that…she couldn't guess.

"You were keeping them in your pocket?" Killian questioned in shock.

"More or less…" Merlin grinned with an amused smile.

"What uh…w-what enchantment are you talking about? Can you reverse it?"

"An enchantment that comes from the sand on the Isle of Avalon. If it touches an individual it has the ability to make that which is broken appear whole. And, yes, I can reverse it because I discovered it! Though I am curious how they ended up this way when the rest of you appear uneffected."

"We don't know," Regina answered. "Arthur was after the dagger and they decided to test him…they came back like that."

Merlin smiled. "Yes of course he'd be after the dagger. I imagine this is the closest he's come to it in a long time."

"Why?" she questioned recalling the different opinions David and Mary Margaret had shared. "Does he really want to help Emma or just control her or-"

"Neither, he'd much rather restore Excalibur for his own selfish purposes. You see the dagger was once part of Excalibur before it was broken off. I placed Excalibur in a rock to protect it from further harm until one I believed worthy came along. The dagger-"

"You bound to the Dark One," she breathed remembering the passage she'd read in the journal. "We know they're the same blade…"

Merlin nodded as he examined Mary Margaret and David with curiosity that was almost scientific. "Indeed they are. I made a mistake putting my faith in Arthur, thinking that he could keep it safe. Instead he's become obsessed with finding the dagger and using it's magic to keep his Kingdom together and his enemies compliant, instead of doing the good with it I thought he might." Finally Merlin stopped walking and examining and simply sighed. "It's been a long time since I had reason to use this spell, but now…"

Merlin looked into the faces of Mary Margaret and David and finally, for the first time since she'd seen him step into the diner only a few minutes ago-a couple of days ago-the smile vanished from his face. The look in his eyes wasn't amused, it was concentrated and determined. He raised his arms fluidly and made a few motions, said a few words, if she could call seemingly random vocal noises she couldn't identify, and the next moment she knew Mary Margaret and David began to glow blue.

It wasn't bright or as sharp as the light had been when he'd…whatever it was that he'd done to move the diner, it was softer and lighter and hazier…it drew them up out of their seats and closer to the miracle.

And then it faded. The glow stopped, the magic in the room dissipated, and the couple blinked.

"There," Merlin commented happily. "That should do it."

Emma nodded with a grateful smile and took a step closer to her parents

Mary Margaret shook her head, disoriented as she glanced around at them and then found David. They stared at each other with a mixture of shock and awe before their eyes finally landed on-

"Emma!" Mary Margaret breathed striding forward and enveloping her daughter in a hug. "We're so sorry!"

"If we had known how bad Arthur was we never would have confronted him on our own," David excused.

"It's okay, I'm just glad Merlin could help!" she smiled glancing over at the sorcerer again with stars in her eyes. She couldn't blame her, he was _the_ Merlin! She wasn't even sure that she'd taken it in completely yet, she hadn't really had the time to take it in! But it was quite remarkable! And the look on David and Mary Margaret's stunned face told her they realized it too.

"Merlin!" David blanched. He gave a coy wave from where he stood and continued to hold his smile. "Y-your Merlin?!" he clarified with disbelief.

"Expecting someone…"

"Older," David finished. She hadn't thought about it, but now that David had said it that was something like what she'd expected. A long beard, grey hair, cloudy eyes…Merlin was none of that. He was an odd one. Not in a bad way, not the in the way that Arthur had made her feel, but in a good way she couldn't quite describe. It had only been a few minutes but she liked him already. Though the fact that she'd already read his spell books and journal probably helped with that. Still he was nothing like she'd pictured, though somehow exactly the person she'd known. She didn't know how those two contradictions fit together, but oddly enough they just did.

"Yes, well…let's just say that being a tree…good for your skin!"

"Now that the great sorcerer is among us, maybe you'll tell us," Killian stated, the last to move from his place at the counter to the place they were all circled, "can you do what your apprentice said? Can you free Emma from the Darkness?"

Merlin looked taken aback for a moment and she had a sinking feeling in her gut. The look on his face wasn't exactly confident. Was the Apprentice wrong?! But suddenly that coy and amused smile she was coming to recognize as his own spread across Merlin's face.

"Sure," he assured them, but somehow what he said with his mouth didn't quite match the twinkle in his eyes and though the others got excited the knot in her stomach remained. She'd seen that look on Rumple's face too many times before to count. It was a smile that came with age, with knowing that the answer was far more complex than a simple "sure". "But…there is one caveat!" Merlin stated, his smile vanishing as she braced herself for the worst. Merlin closed the distance between himself and Emma. He hadn't even said the words and she could feel the weight of them already. This wasn't going to be good.

"Darkness like this, takes a hold of a person, finds a way deep inside where nobody else can see. So if I'm to free you from this grasp I must know one thing: Emma, is your heart truly ready to be free? Because it is as much up to you as it is me."

It was the most serious tone that she'd ever seen anyone take in her life. It confirmed what she'd always known about Rumple, her kiss couldn't rid him of the curse because he hadn't wanted to be free. But Emma was different. Emma hadn't asked for this curse, she was the Savior! And it wasn't as though she'd had the curse for centuries as Rumple had! She knew that she was suffering, she knew that ever since they'd found her here she'd wanted to be free of it. She just had to accept it.

She thought about it. She thought about it for longer than she expected her to think about it, though somehow she felt like that was a good thing. Even better was the look Emma had in her eyes when she looked up at Merlin, dead in the eye, set her jaw, and nodded.

"Get it out of me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter might seem partially like it's filler but it helps explain one of those really big, really silly things in 5x05. The timeline got screwed up again. We went from leaving Camelot late at night (not early morning), to a place they couldn't stay because (in my opinion) Arthur knew exactly where it was so "hiding out" there would be really, really stupid. Next thing we see it's a shot of a mountain, in broad day line (also not early morning) and not only have Mary Margaret and David not been freed yet we're still on "getting to know you questions". So either we can believe that they got back to the diner, quickly planted new trees to disguise them, and said "hey before we answer questions, debrief, and fix Mary Margaret and David who's up for pancakes?" or Merlin did some awesome magic as I have posted above. Call me biased but I like scenario two better.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	33. Back To Where They Came

"I don't need to know your answer," Merlin smiled at Emma. "The one who needs to know and be sure of it is you. As for the rest of us…" Merlin took a step away from Emma and addressed all of them, looking all of them in the eyes before moving onto the next person. "If I'm to help Emma then I must ask help from you."

"Wait…you're making a deal with us?" David questioned.

"No, my help to Emma is freely given, it is simply my hope that as she thinks about her future you will be willing to return the favor, to help me correct a mistake, and leave this place better than you found it."

"Camelot and Arthur…" Mary Margaret assumed.

Merlin nodded his head once. "There was a time that I once believed Arthur was the King that Camelot needed and he would sustain it for years to come. It appears I was half right. Arthur has managed to unify Camelot that much is clear, but traces of the sand of Avalon float in the air and make it clear that he has not done it in the honest and just way I had anticipated. He was the King they needed for a time, however the King needed to sustain Camelot for the years to come, in the wake of Arthur's deceit and treachery…that must be left to another. I assume you are unwilling to remain and take up the throne yourself."

"We're going back to Storybrooke as soon as we possibly can!"

Merlin had asked David and Mary Margaret but the words popped all too easily out of her own mouth before she really knew what had happened. The words were firm and unquestionable. Yes, she was here for now, she let the rose wilt and possibly bloom with time to spare, but she wasn't staying here one minute beyond what was required of her. As soon as she could she was back to Storybrooke and Rumple's side.

"We can't stay," David finally agreed. "We have loved ones back in Storybrooke who are awaiting our return. But if you are willing, I think we know precisely who can rule once we've left this land behind. Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere."

"Queen Guinevere? King Arthur's bride?" Merlin asked.

"One in the same."

"She's been effected by the dust the same way we were," Mary Margaret added beside her husband. "She doesn't stand by his side out of love or loyalty it's by force. And Lancelot…he loves her. It's obvious from the way he looks at her that he adores her. Arthur has used that dust on her, there is no doubt in my mind."

"Ah the clever observations of women," Merlin smiled. "Very well. If you believe this pair matches well together and will care for the Kingdom then who am I go against those who freed me? Guinevere I assume is by Arthur's side and therefore unreachable for the time being. But it would be beneficial to have at least one of them working with us. Where is Lancelot?"

David made an odd face as he looked at Mary Margaret. "He's in Camelot," she answered for both of them.

"When Arthur used the dust on us he captured Lancelot and threw him in his dungeon," David confirmed uncomfortably.

"So you're saying Lancelot is in the place where any of us will be killed on sight…sounds like fun," Merlin beamed.

Fun? Clearly being in a tree had effected his sense of danger, or just given him a desire to live right up until he died!

"Sounds impossible without a good plan," Regina pointed out. With a sigh she sat back onto one of the stools and rested against the counter. "Arthur may be deranged but he's not stupid and he's not without unwilling adversaries or resources. We'd need magic and by now I'm sure he'll have warded the castle, dungeons and all, against me."

"I can g-."

"No!" Mary Margaret and David yelled at the same time before Emma could really finish her thought.

"What's the harm I used my magic to free Merlin from the tree and nothing happened! I can't see how Arthur would be able to ward the castle from me! I'm the Savior."

"You're also the Dark One at the moment," Merlin spoke wisely. "And I wonder…do you really think you are as willing to give up the darkness as you think you are?"

Not a muscle moved on Emma's face but she could see the look in her eyes go from determination to something…something more. Something that made her want to take a step away from her. "Very," she spat in a voice so cool it made her shiver.

"Really?" Merlin piqued as though the tone hadn't phased him. "Willingness to use the darkness inside of you as a clever tool as an advantage-"

"I didn't hear you complaining an hour ago when I rescued you from that tree."

"Trees don't talk," he responded without batting an eyelash.

"Emma, what you did to free Merlin was good," Regina insisted. "But Merlin is right, what's inside of you isn't a tool it's a curse. I know it's tempting to embrace it and learn to live with it but the second you stop fighting it is when you've lost the battle for certain."

"I'm not giving up the fight or accepting anything, I'm just looking at what we have in our court!"

"No magic," Killian pressed. "A wise woman once told me that a curse isn't a curse anymore as long as the other person wants it." She felt herself blush and hid her smirk by looking over at her bell jar. Amazing. The pirate really did listen to her when he wanted to. "Even wanting it a little bit is harmful to you, Swan. We can't use your magic. There's no question."

"Well…fine but what other choice do we have then?!"

"I'm afraid that leaves you with just one other…me!" Merlin commented. He had an apple in his hand. Where had he gotten an apple? For that matter an apple that he could eat?! Magic wasn't supposed to do that. At least not magic that she knew about. "I can travel with you to Camelot, though it presents another challenge all together…getting back!"

"Can't you just do what you did before? Get us back to where we were?"

"No," he answered taking a seat in one of the booths. "I'm afraid it takes a great deal of energy to do that little trick and even if I could then I wouldn't know where to go to. I told you before this land has changed drastically over the years. I could give it my best shot and succeed or we could end up in an ocean or a tree or-"

"So take yourself there magically," Emma muttered in that same cool voice she'd had before, staring at him with a dead look in her eye. "Arthur may be able to keep Regina out but certainly not you or me."

Merlin opened his mouth then chuckled a bit. Was that red on his cheeks? Was he blushing? "You make it all sound so simple."

"It is, just picture where you need to go and go."

"Alas…the riddle is in the picturing," he responded. "That castle was not there when I was alive. I could try but I may end up inside of a wall. I just got out of a tree. I don't fancy finding out if being stone is any different. But fortunately I happen to know a very good spell that will create a map for us and everything that we need to make it is right here around us!" he responded spreading his hands out wide enough to surround them. He took another bite of his apple and closed his eyes. "Mmm…have they always been this good? Perhaps it's just because I was in a tree for a few centuries but I don't know how I ever forgot just how wonderful an apple tasted. I doubt I'll ever neglect it again."

She doubted there was a number of things he'd ever neglect again. The taste of an apple, the warmth of a blanket, using a fire for warmth instead of a destructive force, but none of it really mattered for right now. Now they needed to focus on something completely different. She took a few steps closer and slid into the seat opposite him.

"What do you need for the spell? Maybe we could help you get it together?"

He nodded as he chewed and then swallowed. "That would be most gracious, though fortunately it doesn't require much. Dirt, which we have an abundance of outside. Moonlight, which there will be plenty of tonight. And the blood of someone from Camelot, fortunately we have two of those at our disposal."

There was silence as everyone looked around the room at each other for a minute. Two. That didn't make sense. Not to her and apparently not to anyone else…

"None of us are from Camelot," Regina pointed out for the others. "Aren't you?"

Merlin chuckled. "Alas, no. I am from a place quite far away that I fear time as forgotten but there are two in this very room we could use."

It took a moment to think it through, but when her eyes landed on David and Mary Margaret she knew who he was referring to.

"He's talking about David and Mary Margaret," she provided. "If the dust that Arthur used on them does saturate Camelot then the magic will recognize them as from Camelot instead of The Enchanted Forest."

"Exactly. Dirt, moonlight, and blood. All we'll need after that is someone well versed in the art of cartography."

"Maps!" Killian exclaimed. "Well then it appears you've found the right pirate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because without this chapter the beginning of 5x06 makes zero sense. Think about it...they are finally free, out of Camelot, with Emma and the diner and all their friends, Lancelot isn't going to help them take the curse out of Emma, all they need is the dagger, the sword, and the spark. So without a scene like this, what on earth possessed them to go back after Lancelot and not trust his safety solely to Merlin. Don't worry ya'll, there was actually a lot more wrong with this plot line than meets the eye but I'm going to smooth it over as best I can so that it makes sense!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter! I hope that these next few chapters are as well liked and received! Oh, I just can't wait to introduce you to the next chapter! Henry and Belle moment anyone? Peace and Happy Reading!


	34. Simple Complications

Merlin's spell didn't exactly go according to plan. Or perhaps it was the spell that went according to plan, and Hook's skills of map making that had gone soft.

That night, just before the sun set Merlin took them outside. Granny, as much as she wanted to, was under strict instructions not to turn the lights on and they were to not to use any source of light with them, not the flashlights or phones, not even the little ipod that Henry had with him. During the day David, Robin, and Killian had worked to clear away a spot just in front of the diner, to free it of all branches, twigs, and even small weeds that had sprouted up. It was hard work that took most of their afternoon, but they all acknowledged that at least they were up in the mountains where it was cool instead of hot.

And so they all stood out in the dark, their eyes straining to see the clearing in front of them. Merlin stepped forward and David offered his hand. The pair walked to the center of the clearing and she was vastly aware of how silent they all were as she heard the small "plops" of David's blood hitting the ground. They left the center of the circle, using the branches of the pine trees to wipe away their footsteps. Once they were through Merlin took a deep breath, his eyes closed, his smile vanished, he turned his face toward the shinning moonlight and waited. And waited. And waited. Until-

A wind whipped up around them, literally around them. She felt nothing in the air but she could feel the dirt at her feet moving and swaying in something! Then she saw it. A spot on the ground, the place that she imagined David's blood had fallen seemed to light up not with red, but with a bright blue. Moonlight. The more and more it shone the more and more she could see the area around it. A deep ravine was suddenly carved into the place around it extending even beyond it. The strange wind pushed and forced peaks and hills of dirt to gather around them on the outskirts of the clearingand then from the place David's blood had been a light emerged it snaked over the ground making gentle curves and sharp turns until it seemed to bounce over one of the peaks and traveled closer and closer to…David!

It stopped abruptly at his boot and when he took a step back it reached out further for him.

"Don't move," Merlin instructed with one of the most serious faces she'd seen since he'd arrived. "The map shows us the way from David…to Camelot!" he pointed to the place the moonlight shone brightest, at the center of the dirt. Camelot. All at once she saw it. The peaks and hills around David's feet…they were in the mountains! And the deep ravine around the spot of blood…it was the moat, and everything beyond it was the sea! It was a map! Perfect and clear and to her it was amazing. But it wasn't to the one person who mattered.

"Map?" Killian scoffed. "That's not a map it's a squiggly line on some dirt."

"What are you talking about, it's clear as day?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"Yes accept of course for anything that remotely resembles a map. The mountains and water I could do without, what I need are directions. Is Camelot to our North or south? East? West? How far are we? How long is a mile? Will it take us a day or two weeks? It's almost entirely useless!" he explained. He was talking like a pirate again. In the tone she didn't like because it reminded her too much of the days that they'd been enemies. But she supposed that could be because he was in his element. Did she do that when she talked about books or magic? Did she sound different?

"Almost?" Regina questioned, bringing her out of her thoughts.

It was dark, but by the moon glow she could see Hook kneel down and examine the thing more closely. "Well we won't be leaving tomorrow but…I remember where the sun came up in Camelot perhaps in the morning I can compare that to where we are now and get a general direction. As for time…that'll be a bit more complicated, but perhaps with some help we might manage to figure out at least a close estimate."

So it wasn't according to plan, but it might have been good in the end and given them more time to plan, to think about things they hadn't. David and Merlin were going to free Lancelot, Hook would assist them as he was the one that would understand the map best once it was finished, but Robin Hood had agreed to stay behind because he didn't like sending all the "muscle" out to one place, no matter how much magic would be left here. Mary Margaret also wanted to come, but decided to stay. "I think it's important at least one of us stay with Emma right now. She needs us more than ever." And she was probably right. Since they'd arrived Emma had been distant. She sat alone staring out at the walls, turning sticks and Granny's yarn into a dream catcher as though she was a child at camp working on arts and crafts.

But she wasn't the only distant one among them. There was one more, one other, that had caught her attention simply because she'd seen more of him in the last day than she had in the last month. Henry. He seemed nearly as wistful as Emma and try as everyone did, he didn't seem to open up to anyone and just preferred to be left alone. The next night, when everyone was gathered outside once more to recreate the map, to compare it with what Hook had crafted and see if they could glean more information from it Henry sat by himself on the steps of Granny's, simply watching them. And she couldn't help herself anymore.

"Hey," she breathed taking the seat next to him. "Are you feeling alright? You didn't have much to eat at dinner."

Henry smiled. "Dinner was pheasant, trust me, I had all that I wanted." They chuckled together. Yes. Growing up pheasant was a staple…but only in the Enchanted Forest, not so much in Storybrooke. It made sense that he'd shy away from it out of desire for a burger, but there was something else that didn't make sense.

"It's good to see you smile again," she commented as they settled. "I don't think I've seen a look like that on your face since we arrived."

"Yeah, things got…I don't know…complicated for me."

"More complicated than a tornado taking you to a different realm."

Henry smirked and gave a little snort. "Yeah…more complicated than that."

"That uh…that sounds pretty serious. Do you want to talk about it? It might make you feel better," she suggested timidly. It was a curiosity. Would he or wouldn't he? Rumple wouldn't, not without a lot of nagging, maybe not even then. Neal might have, if whatever was on his mind was bothering him enough. Emma and David she didn't know well enough to tell but Mary Margaret would be honest and tell her. So…who was he like?

"Well…" he groaned after a moment. "There is-was…this girl." He'd said it so sadly that she knew where the conversation was going but she still had to suppress the urge she had to break into a happy and excited smile. So it was true! Henry did have a girlfriend! Or…he'd had one at least. "She was perfect! I liked her. She was smart and funny. She liked to go on adventures and we had a lot of fun together so I thought she liked me too, you know…as more than a friend. I thought that maybe because I was the author, because I was from another world I was interesting enough but…I guess I was wrong."

"You are interesting enough," she refuted quickly. "I know you and I'm interested in the tale of how you became the author. Trust me I'm sure it wasn't that."

"You have to say that!"

"No," she argued with a chuckle. "What I have to say is that someday…someday you will meet an incredible woman who will like you and maybe even love you not because of where you are from or because you're the author, but because of who you are inside. Because you are smart and funny, because you like to go on adventures and you have fun together, because the fact that you are the author isn't nearly as important to them as you think it has to be. Trust me Henry, you don't want someone to like you because of who or what you are. And it's what I have to tell you not because I'm obligated to, but because it's the truth."

"Is it that way for you and Rumpelstiltskin? Was it, I mean…"

She opened her mouth but closed it again. She really hadn't expected this conversation to turn back to her once more. Neal. He was more like Neal. He'd always had that wonderful talent of turning conversations around and making them about her even when she didn't want them to be. With Neal she'd felt comfortable telling him to back off when she needed him too...of course Neal felt all to comfortable with not backing off until the last possible minute, but she didn't feel that same comfort with Henry. He was a kid, a kid she was trying to get to be honest, to not answer him seemed like a step in the wrong direction.

So she sighed and sat back against the steps. Was it that way with her and Rumpelstiltskin? Smart, funny, adventures, fun together…how were such simple questions so complicated.

"It was that way," she admitted with a forced smile. "In the beginning it was so much that way that I didn't even notice it. It's only at times like these, that I look back on it all, that I really see just how much it all meant to me, how much in love with him I was. But as for now…"

She shook her head and held her bell jar closer. She just wasn't sure and wished that she could be.

"Do you still love him?" Henry asked softly, in the same way that Rumple did when he was afraid to ask her something for fear she'd actually hear it and answer. It was enough of a reminder that she couldn't help herself, she smiled and gave a small chuckle at their similarity…but nothing beyond that.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "Maybe…a heart and a head…they are two very difficult things to reconcile to each other."

"Kind of like how it's scary to do something you love again after you get hurt doing it. Like riding your bike after you fall down or driving a car after you crash."

Riding a bike or driving a car…those were two very different things one of which she'd never actually done but…Lacey had memories of riding a bike, of learning to go on two wheels instead of four. She'd never had the experience but she could feel it somehow in her mind, the nerves she'd felt when she'd pedaled forward and the way her heart and stomach had simultaneously jumped each time she turned the handle a bit too hard. Would she fall? Would she fly? The feeling of flying had been exquisite. Wind in her face, trees whipping by, she'd felt as though nothing could stop her until she couldn't correct her jiggle and fell to the ground again. In the moment the sensation of flying was worth it enough to crash. But scrapped elbows and knees, the tears and fear as she'd pick herself up again and stared at the dreaded two wheeled bike before heading up to do it again…that always made her second guess.

"Yes…she settled. I suppose it is a lot like riding bike."

Beside her Henry nodded. "I guess I fell really hard then…" he muttered beside her, a small choke clear in his voice.

She swayed over to the side and bumped his shoulder playfully. "All the best do."

"Well then I guess I'm at least in good company," he settled taking a deep breath and doing his best to shake it off. She was glad they'd talked. About this and about him, it was good. But too much of a good thing…

"Well, you know…I really do want to hear about how you became the author," she requested changing the subject. "We haven't had much time to talk a lot since we got here and…I miss the afternoons in the shop together. I hope it'll continue when we get back?" she suggested timidly with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she echoed.

Henry nodded. "Me too…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies and Gentlemen...this has been a Belle and Henry moment. So? What do you think? Henry is another one on my list of "characters I don't write well" but I really do hope that this chapter came out well because I think it is a great way, first of all, to catch these two characters up, and second of all to cover some really important stuff with Belle, outside of Neal of course. It kind of renews the Henry/Belle relationship and also gives it a little bit of hope for the future! I really do hope it gets to go somewhere in season 6 (yeah, I know I won't hold my breath) but I also know there are a lot of other issues that need resolved in season 6 first before she and Henry can work on their relationship.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	35. Her Very Own Useless Prophecy

As it turned out there wasn't much to the story of how Henry became the author. It was as simple as picking up the special quill Isaac, the previous author, had used. It glowed, revealing that he was the chosen one. Since he'd been the author he used the quill to write them all out of the storybook that Isaac and Rumple had cursed them into and when he got back he'd broken the pen. Regina had taken him to her office and given him a present, one she'd been saving for a special occasion, but then had apparently seemed more appropriate, and when she'd left for Granny's he'd stayed behind. He and the Apprentice had talked and he'd snapped the pen in half.

"It was too much power for one person to have," he explained. "Besides…I got something out of it!" Henry said reaching into his pocket. He pulled the little rectangular ipod out of his pocket and wiggled it between his fingers. "This thing is better than deciding everyone's fate and writing down their stories. Now I can have my own and add a soundtrack to it if I want. This thing holds everything-"

"Henry!" they both looked up across the suddenly black clearing before them at Regina's call. All at once she'd realized what happened. Henry had turned his ipod on.

"No light…" he groaned. "Sorry mom, I didn't mean to, I forgot-"

"No, it's fine, leave the lad alone," Kilian stated as he looked over the abyss as if he could still see it before him. "I have what I need…"

Killian took the paper he'd been using to chart, the one he'd drawn the map on and the others followed him into the diner "to plan". She remained. It was a nice night out, cool, but with her cloak on she barely felt it. And her talk with Henry…it had been more than she'd expected to encounter today.

She pushed herself off of the steps and let herself wander. Down the steps, across the clearing, over the peaks and hills that once represented mountains and hills, and finally over to the well they had. She set her bell jar a top it, pulled a bucket of water out and drank from the gourd within it. It helped, but not as much as what she really knew would help. She'd done nothing but have a simple conversation and yet suddenly the world felt like it was spinning around her. Or maybe it always had been spinning and she was just now beginning to catch on.

"Show him to me." The glass had already begun to melt before she'd said the words. The flower was wilted and dying. There was no doubt about that, but it still had its petals. Not all of them, clearly. Many of them were floating around the surface of the jar in various stages of decay. The urge to go home was strong. Perhaps the strongest she'd ever had but impossible. Even she knew that. They'd promised to go home if she asked them to, if things got desperate, but somehow she knew that even if she marched in there now and said that things were desperate they wouldn't do it. They were so close, too close, to making all of this work…they wouldn't let her go and see him. Not now. They wouldn't help.

She stifled a cry and held the jar closer to her chest. "Don't go," she cried. "I'm still here, please don't leave me."

"I sense that jar you seem to be attached to is more than it appears!" She jumped at the sound of Merlin's voice behind her. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. Sometimes I forget to be loud, being a tree for a couple centuries will do that to a person."

She quickly wiped the tears off of her cheeks and shook her head. "No, no, it's…it's fine."

"And yet I also sense it's not," he commented coming to rest against the wall beside her. "So tell me…what is it? What does it do? I've been curious since the moment I saw you with it and could sense the magic coming off of it."

"It uh…well it's…it's a rose," she stuttered as the glass cleared and the flower inside revealed itself. "The Blue Fairy gave it to me. It's linked to my…my…my beast," she settled. It was the best she could do. And how awful was that, really?! Suddenly she was back to not knowing what to call him. "Husband", "Ex-husband", "True love", "Former true love"?! Nothing but "Beast" really seemed to fit anymore.

"Rumpelstiltskin, the former Dark One…"

She glanced up at Merlin with wide eyes at his pronouncement. How had he-

"Don't worry, I'm not a mind reader. My visions into the future are rarely clear, more often than not they are in bits and pieces but I'm familiar with the former Dark One, and the one you call Granny was quick to suggest he was your former husband. Perhaps it was my imagination but I think she'd be quite happy if the two of us settled down somewhere after all of this."

Her eyes widened for a completely different reason. No! Granny hadn't said…she hadn't actually tried to…

She rubbed her head with her hand and looked away at the lights coming off of the diner. "How mortifying!"

"Not quite the reaction I was anticipating, but never fear, much like yours my heart was taken long ago."

She nodded, desperate to talk about anything that wasn't… _that!_ "Nimue," she settled.

His smile vanished from his face much the same way she imagined that her own had only a moment ago. But then it returned, he glanced out at the world around him, into the blackness and she noticed that the smile wasn't natural anymore. It was forced. "Now it appears it's my turn to be perplexed. How do you know about Nimue?"

"I read about her, in your journal when we were searching for a way to free you," she admitted with another blush. "But I haven't read it since, it-it's sitting in the back with the rest of the books, you should-you should probably take them back."

"Probably," he agreed, staring out into the forest with a look of deep sorrow on his face. The look was appropriate considering what she knew and didn't know about the situation.

"I don't mean to pry but…your journal never really said what happened to her. Was she kidnapped or…"

"The Dark One took her from me, much the same way the Dark One has held your Rumple captive for the last few centuries."

She shook her head. "It's not the same," Rumple was the Dark One, he hadn't been taken by anything he hadn't wanted to be taken by like Nimue had. "I'm sorry…about her and you, I mean."

"I'm touched…though Granny will be a bit disappointed I expect," he mentioned as his natural smile returned and he turned to face the well. "So what about yours? That rose tells you how he is…I don't mean to offend you but he doesn't exactly look good."

She felt her chin wobble and tears strained at the corners of her eyes, but she managed to hold it in. "I don't know," she said turning to lean with him. "The rose tells me how close to death he is but I don't know anything beyond that. I just hope…I just hope he's not alone. I mean, of course that I hope I'll make it back to him before…but thinking about him all by himself in his shop is what really tears me up. When I came out here it wasn't supposed to be for weeks I thought it would be a day, two at the most! And now Rumple..." She couldn't finish her sentence. It hurt too much.

"Close your eyes," Merlin ordered out of the silence.

"What?"

"That magic I might not know anything about but my own…close your eyes. Think of him and only him." With a thick swallow she did just that. She stood up straight, shut her eyes tight, and thought of her Rumple, her beast, at first only as she'd seen him last, but then as she'd seen him on their wedding day. It wasn't on purpose, the imagine had just popped into her head and before she knew it she was staring into the face of the man who had cried as he'd married her; the man she wanted above all.

She felt a tap against her forehead. "You can open them now." When she did she was a wisp of white held between his thumb and forefinger. She watched as he slowly reached down and placed it in the well then moved his hand over the surface. It flashed white before turning to blackness again.

Suddenly from the inky blackness she saw a faint glow. The water rippled and waved and before her eyes the image of Rumpelstiltskin, still asleep on the cot in the back of his shop came clearly into view. He was still asleep. His hair hadn't been touched since the last time she'd pushed it back, his chest still rose and fell before her eyes and while that sent a sense of relief racing through her, that wasn't the thing that made her relax. On a chair beside the bed there sat a woman she'd never seen before, dressed in blue, crucifix around her neck, reading glasses settled on her nose, and book in her hands. One of the nuns. Mother Superior had sent someone to watch over him in her absence. It wasn't her, it wasn't much at all, but still...

At least he wasn't alone.

"Thank you," she choked out as the image faded suddenly aware that she was crying.

"Hold your rose close Belle, and know this...if the need should arise, if the situation should become dire, you have my word that I will send you home to your beast no questions asked. If he should leave the realm you have every right to be by his side when he does. There is not much in my life as a tree that I regret, but not being with Nimue when she finally departed is one of those regrets."

She nodded and tried her best to wipe her cheeks so that she wouldn't spring forward and hug him. It was…a tremendous gift. Certainly it wasn't comparable to being there herself, but it was enough to get her through the last leg of this journey and home again, whether early or right on time. But home again to what?

"You uh…y-you said that you see the future?"

"Fragments of it, yes."

"Do you…do you see anything in my future?" she questioned with a blush. She certainly didn't know where it was going, perhaps a bit of guidance?

"I see only a decision," Merlin answered confidently. "A very hard choice to make lies ahead of you."

But of course he couldn't tell her what the choice was. That would somehow break the imaginary "rules" they'd crafted for the future and she didn't even bother to try to question him further about the decision but…what about something else. "Will I choose right?" she questioned instead.

"That all depends on what you want to happen."

Her throat tightened as she imagined what she and Neal had talked about that first night in Camelot. "What if I don't know what I want?" she finally managed to squeak out.

"I suppose that's what makes it a difficult decision."

Right. Of course. There was little help in what he'd told her. In a way it was nothing she hadn't known before, but it was nice to get an answer for a change instead of silence and lies. No matter how confusing that answer had been. Riddles, she'd been living with them ever since she met Rumpelstiltskin so she knew the answer was in front of her, she just needed to work it out for herself.

"We uh…I suppose we should get back inside," she suggested.

"Yes of course…wouldn't want Granny to get the wrong impression now would we?"

Mortifying as it was she laughed. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to set her up with someone and failed; whether or not it would be the last…

"Don't forget this, then," Merlin reached behind her and then presented her almost foolishly with the bell jar. It wasn't likely she'd ever forget it. "It's a clever and unique piece of magic you carry with you Belle, guard it carefully."

Merlin took a step forward and reached out a hand to pull her with him but she stopped as she suddenly realized something she hadn't before.

"Wait you…" she looked between her jar and well, then around her as if she could find the words to confirm what she was thinking, what she feared. "When you first came out here…you didn't know what this was? That it was magic?"

"I sensed it was magic, I just didn't know what kind of magic it was until you taught me. Knowledge tends to work that way you see."

He was trying to make a joke but suddenly she felt like her nerves were on fire because there was nothing funny about what she'd just realized. "Could you do this?" she questioned stepping forward and holding the bell jar up to him. "Could you make this magic like the Blue Fairy did?"

Merlin eyed it suspiciously for moment then shrugged. "Sure, not that identically, it would be a similar spell, my own version, but not necessarily that. My magic is different than the Dark One. I didn't learn my magic through instinct, it was something of an accident. It took me many years to master my craft. I'm well versed in my own tricks, but these newer, more modern influences baffle me, at least until I can learn them for myself."

She was speechless because she didn't need to know magic well to understand what he'd just said and the meaning was clear.

They had a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter! The Belle/Merlin friendship in this turned out to be one of my favorite relationships in this fiction. It's close to how much I love her with Neal but I think that one will still take first in my book. This one is more Mentor/Mentee. Also, I fixed the timeline again. Anyone else notice the problem with how Henry got his ipod? Henry says Regina got it for him as a gift for defeating the author. However the timeline for that was that the curse was broken at sundown and then when the sun finally went down there was a party at Granny's before Belle stepped in, and Emma became the Dark One. So...what...Regina just up and said "Hey I know we just broke the curse and there's a party at Granny's but you know what Henry needs right this very moment? An ipod!" ::Eye roll:: Come on A&E think about your own timeline a little!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your amazing comments. Oh I'm so happy that you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! I hope that this chapter is as well received. The next chapter might get an interesting reaction but after that we are on to 5x06! I hope that so far you feel it's going better than what we saw on screen! Peace and Happy Reading!


	36. Uneasy Solutions to Difficult Problems

There was a problem, but for some reason she just didn't feel that comfortable confessing their problem around Emma. It was clear to her that she didn't need any more stress than she already had on her and she certainly didn't need one more thing to tempt her into popping over to Camelot when they weren't looking and doing the job herself.

Fortunately time was on her side. She spent another restless night curled up under her thin blanket and cloak in the diners booth as Robin and Granny kept watch outside. The next morning she heard Killian rise early, before the sun, and when he returned he sat at a booth and charted out what he believed to be the cardinal directions, after they all rose and had something for breakfast he announced that he, Henry, and Emma were going to venture out into the woods to see if they could figure out distances for the map, the last thing he needed to really make it usable. The moment they were gone she seized her opportunity. Merlin, Mary Margaret, David, and Regina, she gathered all of them outside the diner as Roland played and told them what she'd learned.

"He can't go," she concluded. "He knows magic but only old magic. Arthur will use the latest most powerful magic he can to ward the castle which means he won't be able to bring it down. Regina…it'll have to be you."

"No," she shook her head. "The wards no doubt will be against me and Emma both, I won't be able do anything about them. Besides, I wasn't going to say it, but I'm not comfortable leaving Emma here with no other magic users. If something happens I could be the only one with the power to help her. It's too dangerous."

"Then how are we supposed to rescue Lancelot?"

"Perhaps we could take a little time?" Merlin suggested. "I'm a quick study. I could learn this new magic for myself."

"How long would that take?" David asked.

"Too long," Regina answered for him. Merlin cast her an odd look, surprise at what she'd said to him, but Regina only shook her head. "We don't have two weeks to bring you up to speed on every magical spell that's evolved since you were turned into a living Christmas tree. All due respect, it's just not possible."

"What about another sorcerer?" David suggested. "You and Emma can't be the only ones in the area. We could find someone new to help us just this one time."

"I don't think we can trust anyone in Camelot or around it," Mary Margaret dismissed. "Those in will be under the dusts influence and we could put any one else, not to mention Emma, in even more danger by revealing ourselves to the wrong person. What about spells? Regina, you could make spells to break through the wards and send them along with them couldn't you?"

She shook her head. "No, she'd have to know what kind of ward it is to make a spell that is specific enough to defeat it, or go with us to capture a bit of the ward and add it to a general potion to break down it's barriers. It wouldn't work."

Regina wouldn't go.

Emma wasn't an option.

There was no Rumple around to save the day.

Merlin, powerful as he was, no matter how fast he learned, couldn't do it…

At least not by himself.

The answer was suddenly so blaringly obvious she felt stupid for calling this little meeting. Merlin was a quick study. All he needed were the spells from today! An understanding of magic that she just so happened to possess!

"I'll go," she volunteered suddenly. She wasn't even sure when she'd made the decision to do this or say the words but there they were, jumping out of her mouth whether she was ready for them to or not. And the others didn't appear ready.

"What?" Mary Margaret questioned confused.

"I'll go. He said it himself, he's a quick study. He doesn't have time to go through all the books of spells, but he doesn't have too! We have books in the back, books I stole from the library as well as his tower, I've gone over them dozens of times, I know them inside and out. I can find the spells and he can use them."

Merlin smiled. "That's a fair plan, I don't see why it wouldn't work."

"Yeah, wait just one second, Dumbledore," Regina dismissed actually holding her hand out to silence Merlin as if he were nothing but a child. "It sounds like a lot of risk. Who says the spells that you'll need will be in those books? Who says he can learn them fast enough?"

She grit her teeth together. She knew magic. She knew that she couldn't do magic but she knew magic! Will had been right all those weeks ago! She was the one they always went to for help, she was the one that figured out Zelena's plan, and helped Emma figure out how to get Merlin out of the tree in the first place. She couldn't do magic because she wasn't magical, but in every other way she was just as skilled as Regina or Emma!

"I can do it," she insisted. "I know I can do it-we can do it, together! And it's not as much a risk as you think. Merlin can't do this magic but he can do other magic, he can keep us safe and so can David and Killian. I won't leave their sides if it makes you feel better but…this is what has to be done. It's the only option we have to rescue Lancelot, help Camelot, and free Emma! This is how I get back to Rumple."

"And what about Rumple?" Regina questioned. "This is going to be a hike through the mountains and the woods followed by the siege of the castle at Camelot with a very small inefficient army! Are you going to take that rose with you for all that time? You could be gone a day, you could be gone a week!"

"We're a day away!"

She turned and looked over her shoulder at the ironic answer to Regina's question delivered by Killian as he hiked up the mountain with Emma and Henry with him.

"We're only a day away. Look here!" he laid the map out on the side for Granny's diner and showed them a mark he'd made on it. "We used Henry's talking phone, it had a gadget on it-"

"It's called a stopwatch."

"Right. It took us an hour to go from here…to here. Then exactly another hour to go from here to here! That matches perfectly. If the distances on the rest of this map are accurate, if it was accurate on the dirt…"

He glanced over at Merlin and the wizard only bowed his head and gave his shoulders a small shrug. "That spell has never failed me before."

"So then if we measure the rest of the distance from here to there then if we leave at first light tomorrow we can be there by dinner time the next night."

"This time of the year, it'll be dark when we really get into the heart of Camelot. We could take the night, keep watch on the castle, figure out the comings and goings like we did with Zelena in the Enchanted Forest."

"Then you can go at night and free Lancelot…" Mary Margaret finished with a nod. "Gives you the rest of today to get ready."

"Not like we can take Granny's frozen lasagna with us…" David agreed.

"So we're in agreement then," Killian considered pocketing his map. "We leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," David concurred.

"Tomorrow it is," Merlin confirmed.

"Tomorrow," she added for good measure before insisting "I'm going with you."

Maybe it was because Emma was around, maybe it was because they'd taken what she'd said to heart, but this time no one cried foul or tried to discourage her, though Killian did look terribly confused. That was fine, if they had a day to hike then they'd have plenty of time to explain it to him and plenty of time for him to argue it wasn't a smart thing to do. She would say the opposite, it wasn't the safe thing to do, but it was the smart thing to do. And brave, because there was no denying that what she was about to do took more courage than she knew she had.

"Regina!" she called as the group broke up to start their preparations. "You're right, I can't take Rumple with me, but I can't just let him sit around either so…here!"

She shoved the bell jar into Regina's chest, expecting her to take it from her right away but she didn't. Instead she glanced down at it and made a face of utter disbelief before looking back up at her and furrowing her eye brows.

"You're serious?" she questioned reaching out and taking it from her with only her finger tips, like she expected her to reach forward and rethink her decision at any second.

"Very," she insisted letting it go. "But only until I'm back and only because you're the only one who will have the magic I assume is required for someone other than me to check it. And…if something changes, if it starts to die quickly then you also have the magic to come get me. You…you can check it, right?"

Regina rolled her eyes and waved her hand over the glass which cleared almost instantaneously in only a small circle around the rose itself, like someone had rubbed a circle into fogged up glass as opposed to when it cleared completely for her. The bell jar wasn't linked to Regina the way it was her, it wouldn't clear for Regina like it did her, but she could force it and even though it turned her stomach she knew that was the way it had to be. Just like going with the men was just how it had to be. There was no one else left behind that had magic that she trusted to check on him and get her should something go wrong.

"I may not be Merlin but modern magic I know…" Regina finally answered as the glass quickly fogged back over. Still…she seemed unsettled as she held the bell jar against her body and stared it. "Are you sure-"

"I'm trusting you with this," she interrupted. "I won't lie, it's the most important thing in my life right now. If you really and truly want my trust back, you'll keep that safe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because their little hunting party to the castle otherwise is the most ridiculous thing ever without this chapter! David and Killian I get, Merlin I can understand why it was awesome for him to go instead of Regina or Emma, but Belle?! With a spell book? Who decided that?! This way at least explains it and doesn't contradict the fact that Merlin is able to use his own magic during the siege but not actually defend against theirs because if a scene like this doesn't happen then the scene where they are standing at the jail cell and Merlin says I can't do this one simple little spell would only be fixed by David saying "oh, lucky us we have this librarian we decided to bring with us for no particular reason really, but she happens to have the answer to this one simple little spell in the book she brought and oh look she's already looking it up!"
> 
> In the next chapter we're back on Monday we'll get into 5x06 finally where the tone of the entire half season really changed in my opinion. I hope you'll like what is in store for all of that! Peace and Happy Reading!


	37. Observation and Invasion

They left bright and early the next morning after a fitful night's sleep in the diner with their arms as full as they could afford them to be. David and Killian were both armed, they'd given Merlin a small drawstring bag that contained all the blankets they could spare for a night in the cool forest, blankets Merlin swore they wouldn't need oddly enough, and she carried a sack of food, the most useful and basic spell book she had, and an extra gift no one else knew about: a petal from her rose. It was the one she'd pulled out from under the bell jar what felt like an eternity ago. Yes, she'd been carrying it around the entire time really, but suddenly as the diner and her friends and family shrank into the distance with Regina holding her most prized possession in the world became her reality...the petal felt like a lifeline.

The journey was longer than expected. By Killian's estimates, they should have been there by dinner time and yet by the time the sun went down they still hadn't arrived. Not to the castle at least, though it had been obvious by that afternoon that they were back in the Kingdom of Camelot as she felt that same strange feeling she'd always felt in the castle. It was the powder that made the forest look beautiful and radiant, not the woods themselves. And from the way she and Killian blinked their eyes a couple of times and shook their heads she knew she wasn't the only one to sense it, but looking at David and Merlin she knew that they were the only ones effected.

"Does it look different to you now?" she asked David as they moved forward.

"Would you believe me if I said yes?" She nodded. Absolutely she'd believe him. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but I remember being here before and thinking it was the greatest Kingdom I'd ever visited, even the forest was spectacular! Now it's…just a forest. No different than ours back home."

She shrugged his explanation off. "You were under direct influence of the dust. Whatever Merlin did, it must have granted you an immunity to it. I still see it as remarkable."

"Must have," he agreed.

It was dark and late by the time David and Killian finally stopped them. They were hungry and tired, but they weren't done yet. She and David left the pair of them almost immediately to scout out the castle in the grounds ahead. Their plan was a twenty-four-hour watch. It certainly wasn't as much as other watches they'd done together when they were investigating Zelena's castle for example, but it was something that they'd all agreed to. Time was running out. They'd been here long enough and Emma had certainly been cursed long enough. In a perfect world, they'd storm the palace tonight and take Lancelot home. But they needed to do just a bit of observation first.

David pulled a small looking glass out of his pocket when they were at the edge of the forest and shrugged. "Hook lent it to me" was his only explanation for the strange look she gave him. Where Hook had found it or been keeping it she had no idea but nevertheless it proved helpful. "See that there," David explained handing it over and pointing ahead of her. They sat together high up in a tree undetected by the guards idling around the palace and from her vantage point she could see the stables and…something else. A door, flame on either side to light the area shielding from the bright moon under the alcove. And two guards standing at attention nearby. "That's the entrance to the dungeon, where Lancelot is being kept. That's what we've got to keep our eye on."

And they did. For four more long hours. It was uncomfortable and boring. They said little to one another out of sheer exhaustion. When one got tired of sitting they simply took a walk around the perimeter at a safe distance to the castle and then came back and watched some more until finally Killian arrived and relieved them of duty. Merlin was waiting for them at camp and would join him after they got settled.

And what a camp it was! Merlin hadn't been joking, the blankets the group had forced him to bring were not nearly as necessary as she'd thought!

"Tents made from pine needles, a dinner made of venison, and blankets from Granny's. One for the boys and one for the lady of course," he explained as they looked over the camp with wide eyes.

"You did all this with pine needles? David questioned fingering one of the little huts."

"Well, pine needles and a bit of magic of course. Though the venison was shot with the bow and arrows Robin lent us. Can't take credit for that, though I'm not sure Hook would want to either. He's a terrible shot."

And so they ate and Merlin left. She disappeared into her hut and was amazed to find a comfortable looking bed, side table, even chamber pot, and of course Granny's blankets. She slept well that night. Well enough that she was going to demand first thing when they got back why Merlin hadn't done this at the diner and they were taking turns sleeping on benches and floors, but four hours later she was up again and back outside the castle with David. It continued that way throughout the day. Four hours of watching, four hours of sleeping and eating, and repeat.

It was tiresome, tedious work, but as they all gathered around the castle the next night it was worth it. "Keep your hoods up and faces down. People walk in and out of the castle all the time, so long as we look like we belong here, they'll think we do," David explained.

"What about if someone does recognize us?" she questioned.

"Help from the sorcerer?" Killian questioned of Merlin.

He only smiled and shook his head. "You won't find that kind of help from me," he said calmly. "These are good people held captive to a corrupt Arthur. I won't pay them what they don't deserve."

"Alright so David and I will take care of it," Hook conceded darkly. "No offense mate but if someone comes at me with a sword I won't just sit back and let it happen."

"The choice is yours to make," Merlin agreed. "I won't stand in your way."

"Alright then, stay close and look like you belong, just don't look up too much. Ready?" David concluded glancing at them all. She nodded and held the books she'd decided to take to her chest. "The guards will be switching soon. It's now or never," David stated before leading the way through.

It seemed ridiculous, that after everything that had happened they were just going to walk over the draw bridge, up to the dungeon, and ask if Lancelot could come out to play. But that was more or less exactly what they did. Hoods drawn for both her and Merlin, David and Hook concentrating on the floor and strolling forward with pride and purpose. No one crossing the bridge stopped them. No one stopped them as they walked to the stable and David checked the watch he'd secreted away and looked at Killian. "If it's as predictable as they seem then we've got a guard change in three…two…

The door to the dungeon suddenly swung open and the two men standing at the door turned to go inside. Two more were spat quickly back out into the world and barely saw what hit them as the door closed and Killian and David advanced. The men were knocked unconscious. Killian dragged their bodies away into the corner and she and Merlin joined them, pressing their backs against the stone alcove to keep out of sight. "Alright, now there could be as many as ten to fifteen in there by our counts so we have to be prepared."

"Right," Killian suddenly looked over at Merlin. "Does your vow of peace forbid the element of surprise?"

The smile on Merlin's face stretched and pulled himself away from the wall. "Get ready…and cover your ears." With wide eyes, she did just that and clamped her hands over the side of her head. David and Killian did the same but bounced on the tips of their toes, ready to push the door open and charge in the moment the time came. Hands over her ears or not it didn't completely hide the loud shriek she suddenly heard come from inside the dungeon or the light that caught her eyes flashing through the stone.

"That'll work!" she heard Killian call as Merlin took his place by the wall and he kicked his way into the dungeon.

"Belle stay close and behind me!" David ordered before charging in after him. She had no intention of following right away. Instead, she stayed with Merlin and listened to the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, grunts of exhilaration, and groans of pain until Merlin glanced over at her and smiled.

"No time like the present," he said before turning and darting into the dungeon after them. Not wanting to be left alone she followed him in. There were bodies on the ground unmoving, but she ignored them and followed closely to David as he'd told her to and let Merlin lead the way deeper into the stone prison.

"Not bad for a bloke who spent a thousand years in a tree!" Killian commented as they marched.

"Like riding a bike," Merlin responded simply, making a motion with his hand that lit some freshly extinguished torches.

"Well, it won't be long before Arthur knows we're here," David warned. She knew that frankly she was surprised there weren't more guards here, all things considered. "How do you know what a bike is?" David suddenly questioned almost nervously as they walked.

"You really think all my prophesies came true because of luck?" Merlin dared with amusement. "This way!" he commanded quickly without another word. He led them down another path and they walked for a little while longer until Merlin held out his hand to stop them. Killian and David both backed against the wall and she copied their motion and held her breath. What was it now?

More soldiers.

She pressed herself back as flush as she could be to the wall and tried to be as invisible as possible when she caught a glimpse of them descending the stairs. For a minute she feared they were doomed to be discovered but they turned right and never appeared to see them. But still she knew that was probably only the first of many and it was only a matter of time until somebody did stumble upon them. They had to keep moving.

"Bloody hell," she heard Kilian whisper as they disappeared, "you really can see the future."

"Bits and pieces…yeah!" he confirmed before abiding by her silent wish and taking them further into the tunnel. She had no time to be amazed as the others. She'd put that much together about him the night that they'd talked about and Rumple. She just hoped that they remained as focused as Merlin did and wouldn't get caught up in the wonder of it.

Suddenly they walked slower, with more meaning down a corridor before Merlin paused. David and Killian went on and at the end of the hall what she saw…a prison. In the cellar of the castle, kept out of sight from everyone else. For a moment she looked around and had to make sure the walls weren't closing in like so many dreams that she'd had. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and counted all the ways that this wasn't like the prison she'd been kept in. It worked, until she realized all the ways it was like the prison she'd been kept in and her heart started to race out of old fear. _"Hey_ ," Neal's voice called in her head. " _You got this. Don't run now."_

"Charming?!" a voice she doesn't recognize called out in front of her. She focused on that voice and stepped forward to peer into the cell with David and Killian. The same large man she'd once seen from her tower on the day Mary Margaret and David had been cursed. He was here! Right where they expected. Wasting away and rotting. Forgotten. _"Focus!"_ She could do this.

"It's okay," David assured him. "Mary Margaret and I are no longer under Arthur's control."

"How did you break his thrall over you?" the man, Lancelot, questioned stepping up closer to the bars.

"They didn't, mate," Killian answered. She moved out of the way at the sound of footsteps behind her.

"I did!" Merlin responded with pride.

It was hard to see the man over his shoulder, but the couple of inches that he gained could only be attributed to a sudden change of posture. "Merlin," he correctly assumed.

"What 'bout me, now?" a voice called out from behind her. She jumped and turned at the sound. She'd thought the cell was empty, but clearly, it wasn't. A woman, maybe only a few years younger than her with wild red hair that looked as though it had never seen brush, stepped up to the bars and gripped them tight. "You here to free me too?!"

"Merida?" Killian breathed behind her.

"How'd you end up in there?" David asked.

"Long story," she answered quickly. "But after what your daughter did to me…lettin' me out is the least you could do!" There was a bite, an anger, to her desperate words, but nevertheless, they were desperate. No matter how angry she was at them, she was angrier at the man who had locked her up-Arthur. She didn't know who she was, how or why she'd come to be here but she knew that if David and Killian knew her and Emma in some way then she probably didn't belong there.

"Aye…she's right," Killian conceded. "Emma would want us to free her."

"Indeed," Merlin agreed. Freedom! Right! That was why she was here. "But much has changed in the last millennia, these bars are enchanted with magic that…I've never encountered before."

A simple spell could answer all their problems and she knew the perfect one to use! She knew she was the right woman for this! Quickly and carefully she opened her book up and found the markings for a spell that could dissolve metal in a flash. It was perfect.

"Here," she said, raising the book up to his level and pointing the sigils he needed to focus on out to him. "Try these!"

"Well!" he blanched with a happy smile as he looked them over. "Aren't you the clever one!"

"Glad someone noticed!" she commented shutting the book and smiling back. Merlin had never objected to her coming along. He'd never promoted it either of course, but he certainly hadn't said it was a bad idea like the others had. She liked him. She felt a connection to him she hadn't felt for anyone in a long time. It was almost like Neal.

Almost.

Without warning, Merlin's smile vanished and he flung out his arms. She heard frantic footsteps as Merida moved away from the bars before her, perhaps sensing that something was about to happen!

It happened just as it said it would, literally in a flash. One minute the bars were there and with a flash of light they were gone. Yes, she knew magic, but sometimes she was impressed by just how much it could surprise her when it was easy and literal as that was.

Lancelot and Merida emerged. He looked happy, she looked shaken, the others looked…frantic. And for good reason.

"We best get going," Killian reminded them before turning on his heel to lead them out. He was right they were biding time as it was. They needed to go!

"No, wait! Wait I can't leave, Arthur took my wisps!" Merida called behind her. She turned but was shoved forward by David. But not before she caught a brief glance of Merlin turning toward the girl. She could hear his voice in the tunnels but couldn't make out what he was telling her. She'd find out later what the fuss was about. First, they had to get out of this dungeon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we are on to 5x06 finally! The halfway point in 5A and yet sixth week in the Camelot storyline. Did that make sense to anyone else while they were watching? No? How about after Moments? How'd I do giving those six weeks a little bit more substance, I mean I know it's not great because there wasn't a lot to work with but I hope that as you look back it at least feels like they've been there longer than it appeared on the show.
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay for the wonderful and lovely comments you've been leaving me! I love each and every word and I'm endlessly thankful for it! Now that we are finally into 5x06 it is my hope that you'll enjoy the little spin that I put on it. Get ready, there are a few really good conversations that revolve around a certain imp we all love coming up. Peace and Happy Reading!


	38. A Lesson on Instinct

When they emerged from the castle there were knights everywhere. All their swords were drawn and they were running about the castle grounds purposefully. Clearly, an alarm had been raised and she quickly pulled her hood up over her head again as it was when they first arrived only-

"That'll do us no good now," Killian realized as they waded into it. They were everywhere and though they were distracted they'd never make it back across the drawbridge unless…

She had an idea!

"Merlin!" she called rooting through her book once more. They didn't have long for her to come up with a plan, but it was just long enough. "There's a spell! It'll slow time down for everyone but you, if we hold onto you then we should be immune as well."

"Should be?" Killian questioned.

She shrugged. "Haven't exactly tried this version myself. Here!" she exclaimed pushing her hood back again and holding the book up for him. "This one here!" He took the book in his hands and read over the passage before glancing back at her with questioning eyes. "You said you were a quick study," she reminded him.

He smiled again. "That I did!" With that, he snapped the book shut and handed it over to her. He knelt down onto the ground and placed his hands on the straw covered dirt. It wouldn't affect those in the castle, just everyone touching the ground, but with any luck, it would be enough to get them back into the woods and a safe distance away.

"Touch him!" she hissed at the others as she reached forward and grabbed his shoulders. "A hand should be all you need." They all looked skeptical but obeyed her order and reached forward to touch Merlin. As soon as they all had a hand on his back she felt the build of energy flex around him and then inside of her. The way the others looked at one another they felt it too. And then they saw it. A pulse, similar to a sound wave, popped out of the ground two feet from their group, like a drop of water into the lake it rippled and extended outward. Everyone it touched, every person it came upon suddenly stopped where they were as they were. Nearly. There was some movement to them. But it was slow, like a fly moving through molasses. And it cleared the path for their exit.

"Let's go!" she shouted at them a moment later when she was sure it had reached its maximum distance. They darted through the immobile crowd with ease. Only two people were unlucky enough to have had both feet off the ground when the spell hit and were able to give chase but David dispatched one. The other was relentless, he stood in front of them, barring their path to the drawbridge and-

They all stared as a bloom of red blood burst upon his unprotected white shirt and his eyes glazed over. An arrow. It had hit him in the center of his chest and he fell down dead. Merida. When they turned back to gape at her all she offered was an "I don' fancy bein' caught again! Now let's move!"

And so they did. They ran as fast as they could as far as they could. Eventually, voices and cries arose in the distance behind them as the spell broke and David stopped them. "New plan!" he called reaching into the trees. They're too busy looking ahead they'll never look up!" And on that note, they all climbed up the trees around them as fast as they could, never once stopping to question David's theory. Soon enough the ground started to vibrate and sway and she held tight to the trunk as she gazed down in wonder as dozens of horses and warriors rode right by them and deeper into the forest.

A few minutes later she heard David climb down from his tree and Merlin appeared quickly at his side. She descended to meet the rest of them and enjoyed the feel of the good, solid, non-magic spell inducing ground beneath her feet.

"Well, that was fun," Merlin beamed. "I look forward to doing it again someday. Tell me, David, do you and yours always have this much excitement in your life?"

David smiled and opened his mouth but then closed it again as he considered the question more thoroughly. "More or less," he conceded eventually. "Is everyone alright? Belle? Killian? Lancelot?"

"Better now, old friend."

"Merida?"

"Fine for the moment and I'd like to continue to be fine just so long as yer daughter keeps her distance. Where is the devil?" she questioned looking around her and over her shoulders, she drew her bow as if she expected to see Emma appear from the darkness at any moment and threaten her. Who was this woman?

"She's not with us," David assured her.

Merida nodded. "Just as well…who're you suppose to be then?" she asked nodding in Merlin's direction.

"Merlin," he answered. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"You'll get nowhere on lies! Not with me!"

"He's telling the truth, love."

"Yeah! Right! After centuries Merlin just decides to make a grand appearance right in the nick of time?!"

"Technically I was never gone."

"Well whatever ya were or whoever ya are, I don't rightly care. I just need to know the plan! I have to get back to my brothers in DunBroch!"

"Right, I suggest we go back to the camp. Chances are Arthur's men won't come back in a pack it'll be sporadic riders, we can deal with them as they come. If the camp is still there we should get some rest and bed down for the night in the morning we can…decide what comes next, for all of us," he said looking Merida over with uncertainty.

"You have a camp?" she questioned.

"Food and shelter," Killian confirmed.

"Ya plan on stayin' there with 'em?" she demanded turning to her suddenly.

The question struck her as odd but…perhaps it wasn't, considering she was surrounded by male strangers. "It's perfectly safe," she assured her.

"Alright deal then! To camp we go!" she determined before holding her arm out, a motion that David or Killian or someone who knew where they were going should lead them forward.

They all seemed a bit surprised at her brashness but turned anyway and led them forward to the camp they'd established. With any luck, Merlin had thought to hide it with his magic before they left and it would be safe from the men up ahead.

"Yer a woman among men!" Merida called stepping up beside her. "That's no' an easy feat."

She fell into step beside the perky redhead and shook her head. "They're all good friends," she explained simply. "But how do you know them? About-about us?"

"Did they no' tell you about the encounter I was lucky enough to have with their dear daugh'er?" she questioned with bite in her voice. "I was here, searchin' for the will o' the wisps, I knew they could help lead me back to my family but I wasn't the only one that day searchin' 'em out! Emma and I had an agreement to help each other but I got away when I realized just how daft she was, talking to herself and carryin' on conversations about hurtin' others in the dead of night when she thought I was asleep…whatdya expect?"

"So that's how you know Emma, but how you know the others?"

"Oh that wasn't my last encounter with the demon lass. She found me, pulled me heart right out of my chest, and threatened to crush it! I reckon she would have if they hadn't shown up, dressed in something crazier than their daugh'er was but sane enough to get her to release me!

"You weren't with 'em though! And neither was that other bloke you claim is the long-lost wizard. There were more of you that day too!"

The first day they'd arrived in Camelot when they'd gone out to find Emma and Mary Margaret had later claimed she'd never seen her that way before. That must have been what happened. It wasn't exactly like Emma, but it would certainly have been shocking enough.

"I'm with them and the ones you remember are back at the diner-the place we came in, waiting for us. I just came to help them free Lancelot."

"With magic!" she exclaimed.

"I'm…just here to help," she dismissed easily.

"Saw you back there, yer no' half bad with magic," Merida commented as they continued to walk. "If I was half as good as you I never would have ended up in that dungeon in the first place."

"W-why were you down there?" she asked as their march slowly began to turn into a leisurely stroll. It made sense, with every passing minute she was beginning to believe that the soldiers had moved on.

"After I parted ways with the lo' of you I followed the will o' the wisps to find where the clans are keepin' my brothers. Wisps led me to the ivory sea so I stole a boat to make the crossing, but…unfortunately the boat belonged to the wrong fella."

"Or Arthur…" she finished for her. " the wrong fella" her foot. She knew there was something she hadn't liked about him from the beginning. She should have listened to her instincts.

"That's when he captured me and threw me in that dank prison." Arthur was awful. There was no doubt about that now. Frankly, the way he was acting around them now she was amazed he'd been able to hide his true colors for so long!

"Shh!" Merida hissed suddenly stopping in her tracks. She stopped beside her. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" she questioned. She strained her ears and listened but she couldn't hear anything. She took a few steps forward but didn't see anything either. She checked ahead of her but the others were nearly out of sight. She'd have to scream to get their attention and if Merida did hear something that was the last thing she needed to do, draw attention to them. Was it Arthur's soldiers? Were they coming back?

"Nothing," Merida breathed. Nothing? What?! She turned to face her. "I just…needed yer friends to get outta sight!" When she saw her Merida was smiling almost proudly, though her riddle didn't make sense to her.

"What?" she questioned Her stomach turned. Something wasn't right. Merida might not have been as innocent as she thought. "Why?" She turned and judged their distance. How far out of sight were they? The words to call for help was in her throat, and the urge to run suddenly overwhelming. There weren't any soldiers around were there? Would they be found if she yelled or ran?

"So they don't see this," she heard Merida breathe.

Trouble.

She took a step forward to run and-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because...ugh, no you know what, I'm going to do it again, I'm going to complain about continuity. Belle wasn't with the group that found Merida! There was no "you lot" there was two of them and the rest of the group are strangers. I did my best to fill in the blank space here, to make the entrance of the conversation seem like a natural thing but I don't know how well I did. Ya'll are always my judges!
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your wonderful comments! The words are always so encouraging and I know it sounds cliche but I really do smile every time I get a new one from you. Thank you for being awesome! Peace and Happy Reading!


	39. Right Person Wrong Time

She could tell that it was morning because of the light behind her eyelids. But that light…it was the only thing that she could really be sure of. She felt odd. Woozy in a way. Like even though she hadn't opened her eyes yet the world was already spinning. Or swaying. And her head! Her head hurt like she'd never felt it hurt before. But it wasn't a headache, it was in the wrong place for that. Instead of the front of her head, it was in the back, just behind her ear.

She took a deep breath and reached back to touch it out of instinct, but the slightest bit of pressure brought on a new wave of pain so bad in nearly made her nauseous.

"Oh, I was beginnin' to worry you migh' no' wake up!"

The voice shook her from sleep but it was the accent that shook her memories loose. She hadn't been sleeping, at least not at first because she hadn't ever gone to sleep. She'd been hit! She'd been struck down by something or other and taken as prisoner…again!

Instinct took over and she looked around for help, to figure out if she could run, but…

All she saw was water.

She was alone in a boat in the middle of the sea, she didn't know where! The only person with her-

She reached for a piece of spare wood she saw in the boat and held it in her hands like a baseball bat. She didn't know what it was needed for but she knew that it was heavy and it would hurt! Fair was fair, Merida had hit her if she had to strike back to get away then she would! Who knew where the girl had taken her, how far away she was from the diner, how long she'd slept?! She had to get home! She had to get back to her rose!

"Where are you taking me!" she demanded, suddenly thinking of the distance between her and Rumple. Regina, she told Regina to come get her if something changed but Regina had to know where she was going in order to do that. Would she be able to get to her now? Here?!

Merida's eyes widened and she shrunk back from her for a moment but the fear she saw there…it wasn't fear. It was mock fear…and amusement! The same kind of amusement Merlin had nearly all the time only on Merida it made her want to swing the stick in her head as hard as she could.

"Oh, you got fire, I like that, but I don' mean to hurt you."

"Tell that to the bump on my head!" she fought back. Of course, she hadn't meant to hurt her, rarely had anyone ever kidnapped her with the intention of really harming her and rarely did they actually kidnap her using force! Usually, when someone captured her she cooperated with the understanding that they wanted something, but now she was beginning to wish that she had "Not open for public business" stamped across her forehead! This happened entirely too often for her comfort!

"Without the wisps, I need another way to find my brothers," Merida explained quickly. "And that other way…is you!" Merida reached behind her and to her surprise pulled out the magic book she'd been carrying with her in the dungeon and she shook her head in head in disbelief again. Magical assistance this time! Not for ransom or revenge or even blackmail but magic! That was new! But unnecessary.

"If you needed magic you could have just asked!" she spat, sitting back on the bench behind her.

"What and risked ya givin' a 'no'?" Merida commented setting the book beside her. The world was still moving but now she understood that it wasn't the world just her. The boat was rocking, her head hurt, her stomach felt as though it was going to turn. She had nowhere to run even if there was dry ground. And even if she did manage to render Merida unconscious, which she doubted she could, she had no sense of direction. She tossed the stick away and realized she had no choice but to cooperate. "Sorry, but I'm more of a…hit-first-ask-questions-later kind of lass."

Obviously.

"Is that why the clans kidnapped your brothers?!" she questioned angrily, trying to sit as far away from the red head as possible.

"Hardly!" Merida spat back like it was an insult. "Those kilted oafs don't think I can rule the Highlands without marrying one of them! I'm not going to marry someone I don't fancy just to hold on to me own crown!"

Crown?

Rule?!

Merida…she was a princess! A princess just like she had been what seemed like eons ago. Or maybe even a queen the way that she was talking! She was talking already about ruling and…her people wanted her to marry just as hers had.

She knew that Merida hadn't planned it but it was the perfect way to get sympathy from her immediately, along with jealousy. She wished she'd been able to tell her own father that she wasn't going to marry someone that she didn't at least like as a friend first. For that matter, she wished that she'd been able to tell Gaston and his father, her people even! Why did marrying someone for love instead of the sake of a crown sound like a wonderful argument to her and Merida, but an idiotic one at best to the world around them?

"After my father's death, they exiled my mother then…kidnapped my brothers as ransom. They'll only free them if I relinquish the throne."

"And you don't plan on doing that?" she assumed, though she had to admit that it sounded like a poor idea from where she stood. Leaving her title behind wouldn't be easy but...she'd left. She'd gone off and done wonderful things without her crown! They didn't want her to rule and they had her brothers…why not just do what she'd done? Why not just relinquish her title, get her brothers, and take her family somewhere far away! She could be anything away from her title! Just as she'd been! Caretaker, Librarian, Lover! Wife? Maybe. She'd learned long ago that it seemed silly to hold onto a crown for a people who didn't appreciate her without a King. So why on earth do it? It wasn't like Merida appeared to be the princess type!

Merida set her paddles aside and leaned forward to look her dead in the eye. "Would you give up everything you've ever dreamed of, just because a man said you didn't deserve it?"

Ah. There was that.

The one difference between the two of them. Deep down, she'd never really wanted her crown or title, or the life that would have come with it. She thought that she had as she'd grown up, but after she'd met Rumple so much had changed. She'd accepted herself after she'd gone with Rumple and part of that included accepting that she'd never really wanted to be Queen, at least not in the way that she'd thought she had. And of course, that meant that there was no way she'd do it now, not even now that Rumple was the way he was! She knew there was better than Gaston, better than ruling out of legacy instead of want.

But if Merida did want it, if she really did want to rule then why _should_ a man stand in her way if it was already her birthright? Why should Gaston have stood in her way? Why should her father have put Gaston in her way?

"So…whaddya say? Will you help me show the clans they messed with the wrong Queen?" she dared.

"What if I say no?" she questioned coyly. She was going to help the girl. She already knew that she was going to help the girl but she felt that it was important to find out what exactly was needed of her and how long she'd be gone. She really did need to get back to her rose, after all.

"If ya say 'no' then I guess you'll just have to swim back because I'm no' turnin' 'round for nothing!" Merida responded. "I'm supposed to relinquish my title by sundown tonight. I have to find my brothers."

"What happens to them if you don't relinquish your title?"

"Don' know. They didn't exactly give me much choice in the ma'er."

"And…a-and you need me to…what? Find them?"

"Find where the clans took them so I can rescue 'em! I don't know what they'll do when I don't willingly give up my title but I know tha' I won' let my brothers pay that price! I need to know where they took them to save them."

"They expected you to relinquish your title without telling you where."

"Part of the challenge. I don' actually think they ever actually expected me to hand it over. This is just as much takin' it as it would be if they slipped in to steal me jewels in the dead of night! Cowards! Every last one o' 'em."

"So you need me to find your brothers…with magic!"

"I saw you back there with it, I know you can!"

She sighed and sat back in the little boat. "It's not as simple as that."

"I saw you-"

"You saw me help someone else _with_ magic! Someone who has magic already! I'm just the researcher I don't actually have magic of my own!"

Merida stopped rowing suddenly and looked at her wide-eyed. "What'd ya mean ya don' have magic! You've got that book!"

"But _I'm_ not actually magical!"

"But I saw you-"

"You saw Merlin, who actually had magic!" she stressed once more. "I can only do magic if I have someone else's magic to work with! Without that…I'm of no use to you!"

She expected Merida's face to fall, for a frown to bring the corners of her mouth down as she realized she'd taken the wrong person for the job, but instead she smiled and a flicker of hope and fire sparked behind her eyes. "Someone else's magic eh?! Lucky for me I happen to know the perfect place for ya!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More things to clean up...the amount of knowledge, for someone who supposedly knew nothing about her brother's disappearance, was certainly astounded. Fortunately, for me, most of it's not my problem. If anyone wants to tackle a Merida version of Moments, that's their issue to sort out, but not mine! However Belle is my problem so I did my best to pass on the information she had to have by the scene in the witches cottage as well as keep continuity because let's remember that Belle is not actually magical people. That's rule number one in all of this.
> 
> Thank you Katrina_Lee and Deweymay for your awesome comments! I appreciate them! It certainly reassures me throughout all of this that the story is not so much my fault as the writers fault. I do promise I'm doing my best, sometimes I can only do so much. Though I do hate to give you four decent seasons worth of Moments and suddenly fall down on this one. Peace and Happy Reading!


	40. Hope and Opportunity

She really hated this. With every stroke of Merida's paddles, she got farther and farther away the diner, from her friends, and from her rose. Rumple. It was silly, she knew, but she felt as though she could feel the distance in her very skin! She didn't like being gone this long. Things had changed when she'd left Storybrooke, she didn't know if that was because the rose was adjusting or if it was because he'd sensed her presence had vanished from his side but she didn't want to find out! What if he could sense she wasn't by the rose as well? A day was one thing but to be gone longer than that…she didn't want to find out.

Merida's boat landed on shore only a few moments after she'd gotten her idea and she'd immediately dragged her into the forest as if she was little more than an accessory, like the bow and quiver of arrows she seemed to cherish. Maybe this was best. She was here now, with Merida, who obviously wasn't going to stop to let her go. They had until tonight. All she needed was to find her brothers, maybe if she did what she needed to do she would give her directions home. What did that mean? One day in the forest, one night in the boat, one day to find her brothers, turn around and paddle back overnight, another day to figure out where she was and either get back to the diner or summon help...she suppressed a groan. This might take longer than she feared.

"You are planning to return me home after this aren't you?!" she called as Merida trekked through the dense green forest. "I have to get back! My friends are…on a quest. They need my help and…there's something important that I have to check on! Do you even know where you're going?"

"I know!" she called stubbornly over her shoulder. But then stopped and looked around the brush as if confused. It didn't give her much hope. "I know it's aroun' here somewhere! It's no' exactly easy to find, ya know!" she shouted marching off deeper into the woods.

"What?!"

"And don' worry abou' getting' back to yer friends! As soon as I've got my brothers back I'll send ya on yer way, food, directions, and anything ya want! Long as I get my brothers back you can have half the gold in the kingdom for all I care!"

"I want to get back home as soon as possible!" she clarified.

"Then move yer feet!" she cried stopping again to look all around her. "It's up this way! I'm certain of it!"

"What is?!" she questioned again. "Where are we-oof!"

The wind left her as Merida flung her arm out in front of her and she ran straight into it. She took a step back and rubbed her stomach. First a touch of seasickness then this. She'd never eat again. But Merida seemed unphased. She was staring up at something ahead of her and moving closer to it cautious step by step.

"Merida-"

"Shh!" she hissed. "I didn't expect it to be that close. I've never found it this easily before. But it's always here when I need it."

"What is?!" she demanded in a harsh whisper once more. "What are you looking for? What are _we_ looking for?!"

Merida reached back, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up against a boulder that was taller than she was. "The Witch's Cottage," she stressed cocking her head at whatever lay beyond the rock. Merida peered around the large boulder, she tried to look too but was too short and too far down, she assumed they were at this witch's cottage, though, so she stood on tiptoe and took a step closer. There it was. She couldn't see much, but what she did see was stones placed together to form, just as she'd said it would, a hut.

"There's magic in there that can help us to find my brothers!"

A witch! Yes, she would certainly have what she needed to enact a spell but…that sounded risky even to her. "You're sure that the witch isn't home?" she questioned.

"No!" she answered quietly. Odd, why whisper then? "Why does it matter? We're only going to nip inside long enough to use her cauldron." And with that Merida left her spot by the boulder. As soon as she walked around it she could see the house. It was well hidden, perfectly built into the forest's hillside she wasn't positive she'd have seen it if Merida hadn't pointed it out! But the one thing that still wasn't clear?

"How can you be sure she's not home?" she hissed as they hiked up the hill.

Merida pointed ahead of her. "No smoke from the chimney!"

Her eyes immediately glanced upward and she realized that she was right. There was no smoke rising from the chimney and in this weather, she knew that lighting a fire was the first thing that she would do. Maybe she was right and she wasn't here.

Merida opened the small door to the cottage and her heart leaped for a moment, but nothing happened. In the end, her redheaded captor just barged into the room and turned to face her again with a smile and open arms. "Empty!" she declared with a kind of relief that probably should have worried her.

At her pronouncement, Belle followed her inside and had a look around for herself. There was a lot of wood. Lots and lots of wood. Wooden bears, clocks, even an impossible funny looking truck from their world! What was this place?!

"So…will it do?"

She turned on her heel and saw Merida smiling at her…by an old cast iron cauldron. There was water already inside of it but it was still and a quick check to the bottom of it she realized it was because the fire was out. Would it do? For her to do magic with? Well, it was certainly a start. And what was behind Merida…that was the rest of it! She moved around her to examine the small glass vials on the shelves behind her. They were ingredients. Magical and non-magical. That was what she needed. And maybe one other thing.

She set her book down on the stool that she saw and began to page through her book. "Can you do it?" Merida demanded. "Can you find my brothers?!"

"Shh!" she hissed, happy the tides had turned and she was in control again. Merida listened. She was quiet. And she continued to page and page and page until she believed she'd found the spell that would work the best. "To see the lost". She read over it a few times just to make sure it did what she thought it would. It wasn't as good as leading them to her brothers, but the spell she needed to make a locator potion or a tracking spell took hours and judging my Merida's sudden antsy behavior she doubted she had that much time. But this spell would take a couple of minutes, tops! And if this was Merida's land…she hoped she knew it well.

"Read this to me!" she demanded standing up and pointing to the book.

"What?"

"Light the cauldron and tell me what I need to put inside of it," she ordered as she looked over the vials, trying to figure out where things were. At least these had names on them!

Merida pounced. When she turned her back she heard a rustle, the sound of feet, and Merida's voice rattle off a list ten things she couldn't possibly remember on her own, but there was one very important thing that Merida didn't know she already had on her. From within the pocket of her cloak, she pulled out the dying rose petal she'd taken from the bell jar.

A cauldron and magical ingredients wouldn't do it. She needed a piece of pure magic to add to the ingredients, magic and non-magic. In the past, she'd have used some of Rumple's magic, small bits of golden string. This wasn't Rumple's magic; it was Rumple. But…it wasn't. Not anymore. The petal had fallen. It was a piece of Rumple that was already gone.

She took a deep breath at that realization. Petals, despite what she'd thought she'd seen that one day, were hope lost. The hope and opportunity she still had lay with the rose and if there was any chance of getting back to her rose then maybe there was hope left in this petal. She ripped the rose petal in half, pocketed the remaining half of it, then picked up two more ingredients and tossed all three into the already brewing cauldron. Instantly the cauldron began to smoke.

That was magic.

But so was the rest of it. Every ingredient that she added, every liquid every solid all guided that magic to what they needed, which was ultimately in Merida's head.

"Are you concentrating," Belle finally asked turning to find the essence of clover. For luck, she supposed. As soon as she poured this in, so long as Merida was concentrating on who needed to be found, it should work. Of course, the blood she'd had Merida add in on instinct would hopefully help that as well.

"I haven't done anything but think about them since they were taken," Merida responded looking over the book and cauldron quickly.

"Okay," she confirmed getting the essence and pouring it into the cauldron. The reaction was immediate. The cauldron bubbled and the frothy white smoke coming off of it waved at them until it reared up. They both backed away from the cauldron on instinct and when the smoke cleared light shone from the depths of it and images began to appear.

A mass of people in what appeared to be an army camp. Three shadows before the army. That was where the brothers were.

"Do you know where that is?" she asked.

"I do!" she responded staring into it. "The Southern Moor."

Suddenly the image changed and focused on what had been the three shadows. It was three men. One with wild blond hair, another who was thick and sturdy, and a third with some kind of tattoo covering his arm. Her brothers?

"MacIntosh, MacGuffin, and Dingwald," Merida commented, putting an end to that question.

"The ones who wanted to marry you?" she assumed. She didn't see any other explanation for why she would know their names or why the one with the tattoo would stand with the pride and confidence Gaston had once had.

"Now you understand why I want to rule on my own," Merida added with a bit of sass. Yes. None of them were really a catch by her standards. The one on the end was handsome enough she supposed but brutish in a way that probably would have made Gaston's father proud. None really compared to what she had back home…or did she have it?

There was noise coming from the cauldron and it surprised her. The spell was to see! She didn't expect sound to be part of the deal. When she looked into it, she could see three men being brought forward out of the mass, their hands tied, their heads covered, beside her Merida took an anxious step forward as they were shoved before the three "leaders" and forced onto their knees.

The image in the cauldron showed as their hoods were removed and she stared open mouthed at what she saw. Merida's brothers. There was no mistaking it this time, they had to be her brothers! They were identical boys but they had that same wild hair that she had. "I'm guessing they're your brothers…"

"Aye!" she responded quietly. She didn't expect them to be fully grown. The way she'd talked she'd expected them to be only children! "What do they mean to do to them?"

"We've waited long enough," one of the three answered with a voice that echoed around the stone hut like he was a ghost. "Because Merida has failed to relinquish her crown of her own accord…we have no choice but to take it from her." That one, the brute with the smart smile and the arm tattoo, he was exactly like Gaston. "And to punish her for her treachery, at day's end, her dear brothers…will be executed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I really liked about this episode was that it gave me a lot of room to work. No matter what I feel about the arcs or characters one of my favorite things about this series is getting to write about Belle and her relationship and skillset with magic. I loved that this chapter showed just how good she's getting at it. Not only is she really good at following the instructions but she's also to the point that she is now capable of improvising. I love seeing Belle with magic and these chapters give me the opportunity to advance that talent and in my opinion, it helps to make the entire series flow so much better. Don't you think?
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	41. Ancient Magic and Present Royalty

The magic ran out at a terrible time.

Her heart was in her throat from the terrible sentence the man had just proclaimed for the brothers and the image faded before her eyes. It was awful. And Merida-

"So they're gonna die because of me?!"

"Th-th-that's not true," she stuttered still trying to shake away the shock of it all. "We can still rescue them!"

"No, we don't have time to plan a proper escape!"

She was right. Planning to save Lancelot from under Arthur's nose had taken nearly a week, how long would it take if they'd tried to take him from his grasp? "I promise!" she shouted back trying to work her way through their options. "We'll find a way to save them from this fate."

She was trying hard to think, to think of something, anything they could do. A spell that would work! She still had half of that rose petal in her pocket! But was that enough? The escape wasn't all they had to do, one clever spell might not be enough! There was more to it! But she'd been in tougher situations than this before! Her brain and Merida's brawn they could get to them they just needed to think!

"Fate..." Merida whispered beside her, when she turned to face her she could see her eyes wide with something. An idea? Suddenly she looked around the small cottage frantically, examining shelves and tables until-

"That's it!" she breathed before closing her book and launching forward to rifle through a table on the far end of the cottage. She went through paper after paper until her hands stopped on one in particular. A scroll-no! It wasn't a scroll just a paper that was rolled up. Merida unrolled it and examined it as she turned back toward her. What did she have in mind?

"There's only one way to save my brothers now," she told her. "I need to change their fate. I need you to do it for me." She took the spell she was offering and looked it over. If she remembered correctly then everything that she needed for this spell was here and with the rose petal in her hands it would work but still, the question remained…was it enough?

"What does it do?"

"It changes fate! My brothers! Magic can help them!"

"We can't rely entirely on magic, Merida! One spell might not be all you need."

"No, this spell is! It'll save them."

"You mean it'll help you save them…"

"What are ya goin' on abou' now! My brothers are in trouble!"

"Your brothers need you!" she stressed as she read it over. "Magic can help but it can't do all the work. We have to think. What does this spell do?!" she demanded taking a seat on the small stool she'd left occupied and looking the paper over again. "The Fate of Ursa" it read at the top. She knew that spell. She knew that she knew it. How? How did she know it? What did it do?

"No!" Merida denied suddenly. "What it does doesn't matter now. What matters is my brothers and I can't save them without yer magic. Can ya make it or can ya no'?!"

She glanced up at her suddenly. There was something in her words, in her desperation, the way her eyes flickered. Why was she so dead set on magic? Her denial was too much for normal circumstances. It was fearful. But-

"Can ya make it or can ya no'?!" Merida screamed suddenly reaching forward and shaking her shoulders.

"Y-yes!" she hollered back. Anything to get her to stop shaking her. "Yes I can make it I just…I just don't like doing magic unless I know what it does. All magic comes with a price you know."

"Aye! I know the price and I'll pay it. I can't let anything happen to my brothers they're…they're my responsibility-"

"Merida!"

"No! I accepted that when my father died! They may be wee devils…but they're my wee devils. I won't let anyone harm a hair on their head save for me! Do you understand?!"

She stared slack-jawed up at the woman, her breath nearly stolen from her chest. She understood. Better than most she imagined because there was a time she'd nearly used those exact same words and thought those same thoughts. Her beast. He might be a beast. Be he was hers. And she wasn't going to let anyone harm him except maybe her own tongue when he finally awoke and she finally had her say.

"Do you understand?!" Merida demanded, lunging forward. But shocked as she was she was ready this time. And when Merida lunged she ducked out of the way.

"Yes!" she cried. "I understand. It'll just…it'll just be a while."

"Hardly any time a' all. I've seen that spell made before, it hardly took a minute of the old crones time!"

"That may be!" she shouted back, raising her hand and stepping away from the wild woman. "But I'm not the old crone! And if I'm going to do this right, it's going to take me a bit more time…" She stared Merida down until the girl paced away from her and ran frustrated fingers through the red mop on her head.

"It can't wait that long," she informed her. "The Southern Moors, they're-"

"I can take care of that too just…please…give me a bit of space!"

She fought the urge to gasp in front of Merida. Space. The Fate of Ursa. That was how she knew the spell…

"Right…I'll uh…I'll just go outside, clear me head for a bit, shall I?"

"That…that sounds like an excellent idea," she concluded as Merida took two long stride over to the door and slammed it on her way out. The moment it did, she got to work. She dropped a half empty goblet of water into the cauldron to purify the previous spell. Activating the spell should have cleared it out completely naturally but it was always good to be sure when working with what she didn't know.

She found ingredients. She chopped, cut, measured, and added everything she had to into the pot, following the instructions on the sheet until…magic. It needed magic. She only had half her rose petal left. She knew it was strong magic, it was born of the Blue Fairy after all but…

The Southern Moor. It was a fair distance. They could travel there in a day she assumed but it would take a while. It was already the middle of the afternoon, by the time she finished working this spell she'd need to create another one, one that she already knew, one that would replicate one of the spells that the Gauntlet had been immersed in, creating their own in a different way. It would also need magic, which meant that if she did this…she couldn't waste an ounce of magic she might need to get home. Which meant that this spell needed to be effective.

The Fate of Ursa…she knew this spell but not by that name. She let the magic in the cauldron simmer before her and settled her book on her lap. The Drink of Ursa. That was what it was called in the spell books she'd read. Not the "fate" of Ursa gut the "drink". It was her mention of space that had sparked the memory, not in her mind but Lacey's. Ursa. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. A tale told back home about two bears in the sky that was so different than the story she knew. The story this spell book told.

 _"The Drink of Ursa,"_ it was titled. _"In jealousy and punishment for his young lover- Ursa's- affair a god transformed her only son into a bear cub more powerful than any full grown bear known to man and filled him with bloodlust so strong he could not quench it. Without guidance and following his instinct for flesh the young bear cub ravaged local towns, children, men, and women-none were immune to the slaughter. As the town prepared to hunt him down and kill him Ursa knelt before her scorned lover and begged him to reverse the spell and spare her son. So moved by her passionate plea the god confessed he could not undo the magic he'd placed on her son. His fate was decided, unless she decided to change hers as well. Ursa agreed immediately. Marveling in her courage the god granted Ursa what has come to be known as The Drink of Ursa. Instantly she was changed into a bear strong enough to stop her son and she-"_

A bear! She remembered now! Ursa had been turned into a bear and the god has been so impressed with her sacrifice for her son that he hung the pairs image in the night sky to guide others along their way! But…

This wasn't the kind of guidance that Ursa had intended to inspire. This had changed her fate as it applied to her, using it for anything other than her situation…

She fingered the dying silky petal between her fingers…what was left of it at least. She'd need at least half of this for the spell that would get them to the Southern Moor quickly and that would only leave her with a quarter left. Was she really willing to sacrifice this quarter for a spell like this? Did Merida really know what it did? Did she really think it was going to help her?

She pocketed the petal and stood up quickly. Yes. If it was worth it she'd sacrifice her magic, but _only_ if it was worth it. Was it? She was going to find that out right now. If this really was the only way to rescue her brothers then she'd gladly give it up for that purpose, if not…she'd figure that out after she knew what Merida was thinking.

She reached for the paper Merida had given her as she opened the door. Merida was there, standing guard with her bow and arrow raised. In one fluid motion she pulled it back into position, aimed and fired. It hit the target, a slab of tree stump propped up against some wooden sticks, dead in the center.

She was speechless.

She'd never seen a man, not to mention a woman do that! Not without an enchanted bow at least! Was hers…

Before she could say anything or examine it further she watched as Merida repeated the action. She drew an arrow, mounted it, pulled back, took aim…and fired. It hit dead center. So much dead center that it split the original arrow she'd embedded into the tree stump right down the middle.

"Uh…where did you learn to do that?!" she questioned as her tongue finally came loose. Did she have an enchanted bow? Another one? It had to be! No one was that good, were they?

"When I was but a wee devil and refused to believe a bow was just somethin' my mother tied in my curly locks," she explained as she picked up another arrow. She didn't watch her fire it this time, just looked down at the target and…

The result was the same. One bullseye, two split arrows.

"My father agreed. He said learning to fight was essential whether you wear a dress or a kilt. He was a wise man that King Furgus," Merida added before turning away from her. If she had to guess it was because her eyes had begun to shine with tears at that statement. Impressive. Did fathers really support their daughters like that? She loved her father, she missed her father. It was odd how alike they were and yet how different.

"I wish my father had been as supportive of my adventures." Arendelle, Rumpelstiltskin, then...Rumpelstiltskin…again. How would things have turned out differently if her father had agreed with her and let her go to Arendelle and if he'd traveled with her? If he understood her need to be a hero? If he understood how much she loved the man that was to be her husband...had loved him? She wished she knew so she could be supportive of her own adventures.

"He wasn't just supportive," Merida went on as she drew another arrow. "He taught me everything I know about shooting, said to me 'Lass if you remember what yer shooting for you will never miss yer target." Merida loosed the arrow and split her third one.

"Well, it…it looks like it was good advice," she commented as Merida finally lowered the bow.

"Aye," Merida agreed. "Now is my potion done?" she questioned suddenly rough and serious again. It reminded her why she'd come out here in the first place.

"Yeah, a-about that…do you know what this potion will do to you?"

"Think I would ask you to make it if I didn't?" Yes! Yes, she did, because she just couldn't understand why anyone would want what this potion promised!

"But it'll turn you into a-a bear!"

"No, it changes fate is what it does!" Merida argued. "'The spell of Mordu' they call it. Legend says that witch used it to change the fate of a prince, gave him the strength of ten men!"

Yes, by turning him into a bear which was stronger than man! Merida and her people knew it as The Spell of Mordu, she knew it as the Drink of Ursa but that didn't matter because they were the same thing and the spell was very specific about what it would do to her! "So you think that turning yourself into a bear will make you strong enough to rescue your brothers…"

"I know it will," Merida insisted softly. "This isn't the first time I've seen this magic in action."

"But Merida you don't need magic to change fate!" she argued. She knew that Merida wanted to save her brothers but this wasn't the right way. This spell had once been meant for something, it had deeper meaning, using it this way wasn't a spell it was a curse! And using a curse was useless when Merida had something better inside of her, something she wished she'd had all those years ago that Merida saw in her now! Fire!

"How would you know?"

The answer to that was easy enough. She pointed down the way at the split arrows in the tree stump. "I just watched you split arrows without blinking an eye! You can make your own fate! All you need is your wit and your bow! Isn't that a better way to prove to the clans that your worthy of being their queen?"

Merida took a deep breath and pulled another arrow from her quiver with a motion quicker and sharper than she'd seen before. "Afraid that's where your wrong missy!" she insisted drawing back again and loosing it. She heard the wood split. "Now, my potion! Where is it?!" she demanded almost angrily.

"It's…" she sighed and looked the instructions over carefully. Only two things remained, her rose petal to spark the magic and to put it in the required rounded bottle. "It's almost done," she answered sadly before turning back to the cottage.

"Well hurry it up in there! I've got no time for doddling…"

She closed the door behind her and leaned up against it, drowning out the sound of Merida's arrows as the split and hit the wooden truck again and again. Her eyes found the brewing cauldron and she instinctively reached into her pocket to pull out the half rose petal she had left. With care so it wouldn't break, she rubbed the decaying but still silky thing between her fingers and looked it over as the sound of another arrow flying reached her ears.

Slowly she pushed herself off the door, glanced out the small window, and observed…another clean split.

Merida was talented, so much more talented that she knew or wanted to believe or had faith in! This was wrong. Not just on a magical level, but a royal one as well. Merida might not know it but she was familiar with both topics and she knew, deep down that if it was her, then her mother wouldn't have wanted her to do this. She'd want her to fight with what she had, win the people over with her wit and wisdom, her kindness and Merida's father…he may be gone now but she couldn't see him supporting this venture of hers, not knowing what she did about him. He'd want her to fight and not with magic, but when the strength that she had inside of her! And deep down…Merida had to see it, the people would never follow her if she needed magic to keep her power, she may gain her land but she'd loose the respect of her people and that was the heart of everything. She'd win the battle but lose the war.

Belle made a decision, a daring courageous one she didn't even know she was still capable of after all this time. She drew a ladle of pure water from the bucket of water in the corner, poured half of it into the circular vial meant for Merida's potion, then poured the rest of it into the cauldron to neutralize the magic within and began something different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My love for writing Research!Belle shall never fade! It's one of my favorite parts of her character and I love being able to look at the magic and it's possible origins. For example, why would a spell be created to change your fate if all it did was turn you into a bear? There had to be a reason! And yes, I could have done something simple like say that someone didn't want to marry someone so they were happy to become an animal and forget about it, but I took some inspiration from 5B and frankly, if something in the show seems odd or random to me I'm a firm believer in the fact that it can be fixed by giving hints to that random thing before it shows up so it's introduction feels less forced. Hopefully, this chapter does that a little bit for 5B.
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay, for your comments on the last chapter! Wonderful as always! I'm glad you are enjoying things, I promise you there are some other wonderful little gifts that are coming in the chapters that follow. I'd say up until now we've been letting Belle question her needs and wants, from this point on we're going to work on firming up what she wants to happen when Rumple wakes up. Talks with Merlin, Henry, and Neal all ahead but first...a talk with Merida about it! Peace and Happy Reading!


	42. Fair is Fair

"Are you sure this stuff is going to work?" Merida asked skeptically, looking over the small vial of grayish liquid she'd given her.

"I'm sure."

"Are you sure you're sure? I don' have time to end up in the Northern Moor!"

"I just made you a potion to turn you into a bear! Either you trust what I can do with magic or you don't!" she shouted at the girl. She couldn't help her attitude. Merida was brash and said exactly what was on her mind, though she knew she was only nervous the words came out offensive and she wouldn't have that. She trusted her to make her something that would turn her into a bear, didn't she trust her well enough to make something to transport them to where they were going as fast as they possibly could?

"Aye," Merida agreed, bouncing on her toes, finally seeing the logic. "What do I do now?"

"Swallow this…" she said holding up the vial again before raising her other arm to reveal the bag of dust she'd crafted, "then concentrate on where you need to go and throw this on the ground, make sure we're touching! Otherwise, the magic won't carry over and I'll be left behind with your potion!"

"Are you sure you don't want to just give it to me now?"

"I'm sure. And yes...I'm sure I'm sure!"

"Right…well, down the hatch then!" As if she'd had to build up her courage to do it she suddenly chucked back the small bit of liquid and Belle followed suit swallowing her own bit. It tasted horrible, but she'd figured it would, Merida seemed too determined to care, merely threw the glass over her shoulder, reached out and squeezed her arm before grabbing the satchel of dust and thinking about where she wanted to be so hard her face screwed up and she ended up saying out loud "The Southern Moor" though it wasn't necessary.

She blinked and when she opened her eyes again she was no longer in the middle of a lush green forest by the witch's cottage she was up to her ankles in a swamp. Literally up to her ankles in the swamp!

"Oh!" she jumped in surprise and tried to stand on a bit of dried land but only crashed back down into the marsh. That was uncomfortable. She raised her skirt and cloak over her legs as she had when they'd crossed the moat but the damage to her poor shoes was already done.

"Yes!" She looked up at the happy unexpected proclamation and found Merida splashing and in the water, throwing her hands in the air and acting like she was a cheerleader that had never actually attended practice. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Ya did it, lass! Ya did it!" she shouted.

"I take it this is The Southern Moor," she whispered to herself.

"Ain' it so beautiful ya could cry?!"

She glanced around her at the nothingness that surrounded them and felt her toes squish in the sorry excuse for her shoes. "Yes…" Merida seemed oblivious at her dissatisfaction because despite her shoes and her gown there was one thing missing…her brothers. The army, the men, the camp, the actual moor for that matter! She looked around and saw none of it before them. Had her potion not worked as well as it should have?

"Where-where are your brothers? Are you sure we're in the right spot?"

Merida glanced over at her and appeared to suddenly realize their situation. "Well I couldn't actually take us right to the camp," she explained striding over and offering her a hand of support. "Bit hard to plan an attack when you use the element of surprise! Camps that way…up beyond that ridge. Shouldn't take us more than half the hour to make it there and we've got the time before the sun sets. With that potion of yers I've got nuthin to worry about!"

She felt a wave of guilt crash over her but swallowed it down as she told herself again that she'd done the right thing. People could do the right thing, the brave thing, they only needed the opportunity…and sometimes a small push. And in her case, she needed a few extra pushes and pulls to get out of the swamp.

"Can I ask ya something?" Merida suddenly questioned as she struggled. "Where is it ya learned magic? I mean…ya said yerself yer not magical and not that I'm complainin' or nothin' but…why bother if it's so difficult for ya to use in the first place?"

She shook her head. Merida was nervous. When she got nervous she got talkative apparently. But she couldn't have really prepared herself for that question as the moved through the sludge around them. "I learned it from books and as for why…it's complicated," she compromised.

Merida suddenly turned back to face her with a devilish grin spread across her face. "It's a fella, isn't it?"

She nearly fell down into the muck at that. Was that really just a guess? Was she as on target with people as she was with arrows? "Why would you say that?"

Merida shook her head, tightened the grip she had on her arm and pulled her forward. "Just because I don't need a man by my side to be a Queen doesn't mean I don't dream of fallin' head over heels for the right one someday! Don't mean I've never heard or seen others talk about it! You have that look aboucha!"

"What look?!" she demanded as she finally hoisted her up onto wonderful, blissful dry land.

"That look like…like yer thinkin' abou' him even when you've got better things to do, even when you don't want to."

She felt herself grimace and roll her eyes. "I have plenty of other things to do besides think about him," she insisted before starting down the road Merida had pointed out when they'd arrived.

"Never said ya didn't!" she hollered following after her. "So…what he do to ya that makes ya not what to think abou' him? Found another lass, has he?"

"No…no, nothing like that," though if the spell of shattered sight had opened her eyes to anything it was that sometimes she felt as though magic was his mistress.

"Well what then?!" she pressed as they marched onward. "If I'm abou' to die I may as well know!"

"You're not about to die and…why don't _you_ tell _me_ why you don't think you can free your brothers without magic?!" she fought back. Fair was fair! Why should she tell her something important when Merida wouldn't tell her what was important? Then again, as Merida lost that feeling of excitement in her face and stared at the road ahead of her she had to wonder…why would Merida tell her why she needed magic if she wasn't willing to lay down the first card and be honest with her? She'd once held the belief that honesty could beget honesty. She didn't know if she believed that anymore, not after how Rumple had lied to her during their marriage. So if she couldn't believe it anymore could she at least practice it? Couldn't she at least try to give it a chance again?

She sighed. She hated when her own logic worked against her. "You know Emma, right-"

"I wish I didn't after last time!"

"Yeah, but...you know what she is? How she's cursed?"

"I've read stories," Merida admitted as she walked along.

"She's the Dark One. All of us, we're all here because of her, to try and cure her but…she wasn't always that way. Rumpelstiltskin, the man I'm…married to, he was the Dark One before her. After we were married he…did things as the Dark One, not to me, but to others, things he knew I wouldn't like or approve of or even stay with him if I knew about them so instead he hid them from me. If I hadn't found out about it all…a lot of people would be dead by now; a lot of people that I love."

"That's a treachery of the foulest kind…" Merida commented softly.

She nodded. "It's a lot to swallow."

"So…where is he now? Back with your friends? Or is he-"

"He's still alive," she interrupted. "Barely, but still alive. He was the Dark One for a long time, the transition back into a man isn't easy on him and he's…asleep," she finally settled, unable to think of how to explain a coma to the girl. "He's been asleep for a very long time and when I get home and figure out how to wake him up…"

"What will you do?" she questioned, looking enraptured in her tale.

She shook her head and walked on. "I don't know yet," she admitted sadly. "I want him to wake up and have a life as a mortal but whether that includes me or not…I can't quite figure that much out. And I…I loved him so much. I loved him as much as anyone could love another person and wanted the best for both of us, curse or not! And sometimes I think I still love him but I just can't…I just don't know if I can be with someone who would never make the same sacrifices for the pair of us that I did. I mean I chose him so many times over friends and family...but I don't want to be chosen out of lack of choice. I wanted to be the only choice and now…I guess now I'll never know. And I don't know if that's good and I can live with it or if it's bad and I can't."

She hadn't realized that she'd slowed her step until they rounded a corner and she nearly slipped shuffling along the path. But Merida had slowed as well, her eyes were wide but sympathetic despite not really being able to understand what she was talking about.

"Yer a stronger lass than I thought you were," she muttered eventually.

"So are you," she fought back immediately, remembering why she'd gotten into this in the first place. "I mean you have so much power and skill and determination…you really don't need me to-"

"Get down missy!" suddenly Merida placed her hands over her shoulders and forced her into the tall brown grass. Her eyes were trained and focused on something she saw up ahead. A tent. A flag, a tartan, flying in the wind. In the distance, she could hear the clink and clatter of metal against metal and though they were small from this distance she could make out people, men, milling around the campsite.

"Is-is that it?" she questioned. "Is that where they're holding your brothers?"

"Aye," she hissed watching ahead of her. But she didn't stay still for long. Without a word of explanation or a hint of a plan Merida stood up and began to run along the dirty ground toward the campsite. She called after her but it was useless. Merida ignored her and plowed through no matter how much she quietly called after her. Finally, they arrived at a place that was close enough she could hear the murmurings of the men as they went about their daily business, unaware that something had just changed for them and-

She saw it. Or rather them. Three identically dressed boys tied to posts, their eyes covered…waiting for death. And she wasn't the only one to see it, Merida did as well.

"Hand over the potion!" Merida demanded upon seeing her brothers.

The potion…no, she couldn't and not just because it was the wrong thing to do but because it wasn't what Merida thought it was! She needed to know, now more than ever, this had been the right decision! Fair was fair.

"Why do you need magic to save your brothers?" she questioned again, still, Merida's eyes remained focused on the boys and her mother closed. "Tell me, or _this_ ends up on the rocks!" she threatened. She may not have been in a position to bargain at the witches hut, but she was now! All she had to do was shout and reveal their presence to the clans, not to mention she could dash her so-called "potion" against the rocks in a flash! She'd been right to hold onto it. And Merida knew it.

"Fine, if you must know!" she hissed turning to her with wide angry eyes. "Not long ago DunBroch was attacked, it was an enemy from another land, my father fought side by side with all the clans and I with him!" Merida turned back and examined the scene before her, she could hear the rattling in her breath as she pressed onward. This wasn't going to be a happy tale. They never were. "As he brought us toward victory I saw a helmed knight heading straight for him, his sword raised. My father didn't see the knight. It was up to me. I had the enemy in my sights. I notched an arrow, pulled back the bowstring, took a breath, steadied my hand, and let the arrow fly. But I missed and the knight ran my father through."

It was all so clear all of a sudden. Merida didn't trust herself to save her brothers because she hadn't saved her father. She was afraid history would repeat again without further assistance. "My father is dead because of me," Merida concluded predictably.

"No!" she insisted. It really was striking just how similar they were. "It's not your fault!"

"What do you know of it!" she demanded with anger she understood all too easily. Ironic really, of all the people on this earth, she knew more of it than most.

"I lost my mother, in the ogre wars…and I blamed myself too. Until I finally realized the truth. It wasn't my fault. I forgave myself. You have to learn to do the same!"

"I can't! The clans, they lost faith in me that day, that's why they don't think I can lead. Now, can I have the potion or not?!" she hissed, her voice tense with anticipation or desperation, she couldn't tell which.

With hesitation, she pulled the potion out from under her cloak suddenly glad she'd done what she'd done but also fearful as well. She believed that Merida needed this, that she needed to do this on her own. She just hoped that Merida believed in herself enough when she discovered the truth and she didn't regret this decision. She might never make it back to her rose if she did.

"Thank you," Merida whispered with gratitude. She hoped she'd be saying that soon enough and that she would understand in only a few short minutes that she could do this, she could lead.

She just needed to have faith in herself instead of magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know it might not seem like Belle is making progress, but actually this chapter is meant to show the exact opposite. Yes, there are issues. Until a certain few arguments in MC&U, there are going to continue to be arguments. But look at the good, a few weeks ago Belle stuttered and didn't know what to say when someone asked about her relationship to the one formerly known as the Dark One. Did she call him her husband, her ex, her beast? In this chapter, she might stutter, but she openly states that she's married to him. That's good. And what's more, while she's always wanted him to wake up, in past chapters she's been fearful of him waking up to the point that she was almost dreading it. In this chapter, she's beginning to really start to pinpoint her fears about that and begins using the language of "when he wakes up". It's more determined and really does show that she is growing and developing throughout all this. I do hope it shows because that was one of, if not my biggest, pet peeves with Belle and season 5.
> 
> I'm glad that these last few chapters have been enjoyed! I liked 5x06, for a number of reasons, but the fact that it was Belle/Rumbelle centric certainly didn't hurt. Add in the fact that I get to have a Research!Belle chapter and two talks about Rumple and well things really do start looking good on this end. "Did Treatian say two talks about Rumple?" Yes, yes I did. This one with Merida and the next one is coming up in a couple of chapters. As is more Neal. I'm just gonna say it, these next section of chapters were my favorites. Let's just hope I can keep the momentum going! Thanks for reading ya'll and as always, Peace and Happy Reading!


	43. The Drink of Belle

"Now let's kick some arse!" Merida declared as she gripped the potion tight in her hand. Just as she had before, she moved to get up from the place they were hidden but without warning ducked back down at the sound of a deep voice shouting. "Men! Today we cement the rule of our three clans! With Merida's brothers outta the way and Merida in hiding…the DunBroch claim to the throne will be erased!"

It was the one with the tattoo, the one that she'd seen before in the cauldron who had made the pronouncement on Merida's brothers. He was rallying the clans in the camp together but with the potion in her hand, Merida was suddenly fearless. "Over my dead body!" she whispered as she pushed herself out from behind the rock. She moved from behind the rock and strode forward after the girl. She didn't know exactly what was going to happen but after watching her with a bow she knew the safest place was close to-

"Not if I have any say in it!" Merida shouted, finally revealing herself.

The clans quieted as they realized she was in their midst.

"Merida-"

"Let my brothers go unless you want to end up black as well as blue!" she shouted at the leader before he could get another word out. But he didn't seem impressed by her clever threat and let out a snort at her words.

He glanced at the men behind him. "You and what army?"

"This one," she breathed reaching for her potion. The men stepped back and she had to resist a smile as she downed the water. They feared her. Not because of magic but the step back they'd taken was in expectation she'd pull a sword or her bow. They would follow her, she just had to get her confidence back and believe she was worthy to lead again! This could work if they played the game right.

"Just you wait," Merida informed them as she swallowed the "potion". "In a moment you're going to be very, very sorry." She bounced on her tip toes and her weight shifted with her nerves, but as the seconds ticked by and nothing happened the men began to take small steps of confidence forward and Merida's nerves reached their peak.

"Did you mix it right?" she questioned looking back at her.

"Yes!" she informed her with a bit more pride than the situation required. She'd never mixed a potion wrong. But there was another reason it wasn't working that Merida hadn't discovered just yet. She'd mixed it right, right up until the moment she'd destroyed it. She'd been secretly hoping she wouldn't have to tell her that until later. In a perfect world, Merida would have assumed the potion wasn't going to work in time and taken the task on herself or figured that it didn't work the way she thought it worked and she'd only have the strength of the bear instead of becoming it. In that world she would have waited until an opportune time, perhaps after the clans hoisted her up over their shoulders in victory before she gave her the "the magic isn't really magic, you had the magic inside of you all along" speech she'd prepared as she'd mixed the other potion.

But clearly this wasn't a perfect world and the time to be blunt was now! "But I-I switched the potion with water!" she admitted suddenly.

"What?!" she blanched. "What game're you playin'?! Where's the real potion?"

She shook her head and took a step forward as the one with the blue tattoo played with his sword, trying to impress and menace simultaneously. Wasn't this obvious? "You defeat the clans with magic, the people still won't follow you! You need to defeat them as a Queen!"

Merida pulled an arrow from her quiver and fit it into the bow as the one with the tattoo drew closer. It was instinct. And it was perfect!

"If you wanted to teach me a lesson…you should have done it before we were surrounded!" she yelled in her ear.

She grit her teeth together and let out an irritated sigh. She'd tried to teach her before they were surrounded, to show her this was the proper way! She hadn't listened. The only thing that she had learned was that Merida would never do this willingly, it had to be this way! "I knew you'd never face your fear unless you didn't have a choice. I know you can do this!" she insisted turning to stare her dead in the eye.

"Enough Merida!" the tattooed warrior cried out. "The only way you and your brothers live out this day is if you relinquish your crown!"

"After everything my father did to create peace between the clans? Never!" she refused stepping away from her. It took everything that she had not to jump up and down and cheer her own. There was a fire in Merida's voice that she'd been hoping for wince back at the cottage. She just had to keep that! "Clan DunBroch is the rightful leader of the clans and I am the sole and rightful Queen!"

There was silence after her declaration but she knew just by looking at the men that it couldn't be that easy.

"Then you leave us no choice," he answered. The warrior looked back and all three of the men lifted the bows and arrows they held, they took aim but not for Merida…it was for her brothers. She looked down the line and saw the boys twitch and sway. Did they sense what was happening, did they know? Did they believe Merida would save them too? Her heart was racing against her chest. Did she believe it enough?

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The tattooed man called out "fire" and she heard the whiz of arrows cutting through the air. Beside her Merida cried-or screamed-or yelled-there were too many emotions woven together it was hard to tell what she did or even what she said if anything. In a flash, she had turned her body, righted it, taken aim, and loosed an arrow of her own. One arrow against three. She held her breath. Waiting, wondering, unable to tear her eyes away from the terror unfolding before her though she itched, at the same time, to look away. One arrow. If she was lucky she'd save one of her brothers. Not all three.

And yet, one by one she saw tiny explosions in the air. Three, much to her unfathomable surprised.

Merida had shot one arrow and it tore through all three of theirs. Her one arrow had hit all of the others in one fell swoop, broken the arrowheads and veered them off course! And though the boys jumped and shrank back into their posts…they were still alive.

She let her breath out in a single amazed huff. She'd never seen anyone do that. Not Gaston or Robin Hood, she doubted even Rumple with his magical bow could figure that out! It was astounding! Better yet, a glance over at the army of men told her they were equally as stunned as she was. Every single one of them gaped at what they'd just seen with their wide eyes and dropped jaws. Some looked frightened, others impressed, but no matter which fear was born of respect and awe in that moment. And then there was her own pride. She knew that this was the way for Merida to get back in their good graces. It was the right choice!

Still, the three warriors didn't give up. The one with the tattoo grabbed for his sword and the two behind him followed suit, but it was too late. Merida had her spark and confidence back and didn't blink an eye at their tiring, wordless threats. She pulled the sword she had barely noticed at her hip free from its scabbard and took a threatening step forward of her own.

"You saw what I can do with an arrow do you really want to see what I can do with a sword?!" she screamed with confidence. It was beautiful. Merida stood straight and tall, with pride and confidence. She was a queen. Albeit a different kind of queen than she had ever seen before, but a queen nonetheless. And not only was Merida acknowledging it, the people did too! They didn't bother to even try and fight her. They all dropped their weapons and bowed down before her.

"Now let them go!" she ordered motioning to her brothers who were still tied up and blinded. Soldiers ran forward at her command and followed through.

All but the three warriors, who she kept her sword trained on. But there was suddenly no need. Behind them soldiers rose and drew their swords but they weren't threatening Merida, it was the three would be kings. The two in the back were quick to drop their swords and kneel but the man with the tattoo watched them with disappointment. "You too?" he questioned of his companions. They didn't answer, only shrugged and bowed their heads. He glanced over at Merida with anger and disgust, but defeat as well and finally relinquished the sword unhappily and took a knee.

"You are lucky someone once taught me the value of mercy," Merida declared before sheathing her own sword. She turned away from the crowd and looked at her brothers, finally free, finally safe. They ran over to her and wrapped their large forms around her small body so that she nearly disappeared. The four siblings were nothing but a mass of green clothes and tangled red hair, but she could hear Merida's voice among them and her arms around their backs drawing them closer.

"My loves!" she cried before the sound of lips smacking together caught her ears. "It's okay," she assured them. "It's okay, everything's going to be okay. Mother's going to be so happy to see us!" The boys nodded and she smiled at the scene.

Merida turned suddenly and looked back at her, a pale face in a mess of red hair. Her look said it all. There was no grand thank you. She just turned back to her brothers, continued to kiss their cheeks and hold them in her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The predictable chapter we all knew was coming. I just hope that it's okay. This chapter was really hard to write simply because it was just one of those chapters that doesn't translate well from screen to page. I hope I captured the anxiety and anticipation, but in the end, I know that this is one where the show will always be better.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter! Hang in there because next up we see a chapter that features Neal and the chapter after that another really awesome Belle/Merlin chapter! And after that lots of questions will be answered! Peace and Happy Reading!


	44. True Sincerity

The truth was that as much as she wanted to go right away back to where she'd come from it just wasn't realistic. To begin with it would be getting dark soon and she had no idea where she was, navigation had never been her forte, she'd need Merida to get home and Merida…she was busy. There were things that she had to do and things that she didn't appear to have a choice about anymore.

The reunion between Merida and her brothers was short lived. Eventually, someone from the crowd asked her what she wanted done with the traitors she stepped forward and looked the three men in the eye. MacIntosh-the one with the tattoo, Dingwald-the one with blond hair, and MacGuffin-the one who just looked…lost, she'd finally learned their names and just in time for her to probably never need to know their names again! "I should have ya killed for tryin' to take me throne," Merida hissed at them. "I could have ya locked up for life! For now…just get them out of my sight!

"In the mornin'!" she hollered out to the captive crowd, "this army will be disbanded! Each clan will return to their homeland and put these so called 'warriors' to trial for their treachery against the crown and my family! You decide their fate! I've got better things to do…" she muttered to herself before turning back to her brothers and opening her arms for them to run into again.

"Tonight!" another soldier yelled out as he rose above the heads of those bowed in respect. "Tonight we shall toast and feast in honor of the Great Queen Merida!"

There was a cheer of revelry, the three warriors were taken away to be tied up and guarded inside one of the tents, the same tent that her brothers had been held apparently, and then the camp erupted in a swarm of activity. Like a hive of bees, they began to buzz around, striking up fires, bringing out all the meat and potatoes they'd apparently been storing up for all the weeks they'd been here, and then finally they began to cook.

She smirked as she came around the corner and glanced at Merida who was beaming as she looked proudly out over the activity before her. "Your Majesty," she curtsied.

"Oh come now," she scoffed, "I'm not so fancy as all that."

"But you are worthy," she smiled. "Congratulations. I'm happy for you."

Merida smiled back and offered her a soft "thank you" through a choked voice before pulling out of her brothers grasp and turning toward them. "Boys…there's someone I want ya to meet…"

Harris, Hubert, and Hamish. It was silly really, they'd spent all today focusing on saving them and she'd never once asked their names. Though now that she saw them she knew it would be useless. They were indeed identical triplets, younger than Merida perhaps by ten years, maybe a couple more, maybe a couple less, but they were big! At the word of what she had helped Merida do they swallowed her up in a hug that made her feel like a flea on a giant dog and knocked the wind out of her with how hard they squeezed, but it was nice. Helping Merida, getting back into trusting others to do the right thing when confronted with the wrong thing, and saving people who were innocent…it felt good.

She wished Rumple were here! She wished she could tell him all about it, she wished that she could celebrate with him and that he could tell her-

She felt her heart fall.

She didn't know what Rumple would tell her. She hoped that he'd be proud of her, she knew that he didn't like when she put herself in danger to do things like this but…she also knew that he understood it was who she was. Truth be told, she liked that he worried when she did it. She could think so little of her own self-interest in times like these it was nice to have someone that did nothing but think and worry about her.

"He'd be proud," she imagined Neal confirming as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep that night.

They'd had a wonderful festive night at the camp site, a remarkable dinner, that had involved a rather jubilant burning of one of the warriors-MacIntosh, she believed-tents. After that Merida had placed her brothers in one of the remaining two and the pair of them shared the other. Merida gave her the little bed the boy must have been using and despite the fact that it smelled something awful it was nice to recline on it and think of her journey home in the morning. And though she closed her eyes and left Merida to fall asleep on the ground beside her, it was nice to have Neal in her head for company.

"You really think he'd be proud?" she questioned. "I think he'd just think it was stupid."

Neal broke into a big smile. "Yeah…yeah, he probably would think it was…but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be proud."

She smiled. Of course, Neal would say that, would mirror exactly what she already thought. He was in her head. Sometimes he seemed so real to her that he forgot he was her! But sometimes it was nice to forget that and just imagine. "Do you think the others are worried about me? Since I went missing I mean…"

"Wouldn't that be nice," he responded leaning back on his elbows with a little chuckle. "What do you think?" he asked glancing over at her.

What did she think? Did the others miss her or not? To be honest, she wasn't sure. This was really the first time that she'd considered that she'd gone missing right out from under their noses all day! Of course, she'd been concerned about getting back, but whenever the thought had popped into her mind it wasn't about getting back to Emma or Merlin or even Robin Hood and Neal. Only her rose. Rumple.

"Can I ask you a question," she said lifting herself up off the bed to look at where he was perched on the foot of it.

"Asking never hurt anything right…"

"You know what I know," she went on. "So…do I still love him? Can I?"

Neal took a deep breath and looked at his hands as if deep in thought. "I know what you know," he confirmed in a mutter a few heartbeats later. "What I know is that it's complicated. I know life isn't black and white but shades of grey and I know that sometimes where we have doubts about facts and sayings, it's actions that tell the most about who we are and how we feel. You may not think you're strong but the way you act certainly suggests you are. You may not think you love Rumpelstiltskin but your actions...don't you think they say you do?"

That was…oddly accurate she supposed. She didn't know if she loved him, but being unwilling to leave his side and then leave him alone, being eager to keep her rose by her side and protected at all times even if that meant leaving it with Regina…that certainly spoke volumes. But what about the other thing.

"What about in the future?" she questioned. "When I get back to Storybrooke, if he heals and wakes up, can I love him then?"

Neal sighed again and shook his head. "I guess we'll just have to see where your actions take you."

When her eyes popped open daylight was streaming in through the tent. She couldn't even remember really falling asleep last night…only talking to Neal. But she felt rested, as though despite the smell, she'd slept peacefully without any fuss and when she turned to look over the side of the bed…

Merida was there. Her wide eyes stared up at the tent's ceiling, her arm was her pillow, and the tartan blanket she'd had to cover her though the night was lumped together around her waist.

"What time is it?" she yawned sitting up.

"Daybreak," Merida answered quickly.

Daybreak. She must have slept better than she thought she did. Waking up early in the morning wasn't usually something she excelled at and she knew for a fact that Rumpelstiltskin would agree with that at least. The fact she was up this early either suggested she was well rested or just eager to get back home. "Do you always wake up this early?" she questioned rubbing her eyes.

Merida snorted. "No, usually it's the crack o' noon for me, but after yesterday I just couldn't sleep. I think I was afraid I might wake up and find it was all a dream…"

She sat up and smiled, looking down at her friend. Friend. How was it she always managed to make friends with people who had either kidnapped her or would only be in her life for a short while? Anna, Mulan, Ariel, and now Merida…she needed more friends.

"It wasn't a dream," she assured her. "Your brothers are safe, the Kingdom is yours…and your father would be proud."

Merida smiled. It was different than any smile she'd seen on her before. It wasn't mischievous or sassy, it wasn't fake or even happy it was just…satisfied. It was as if all was right with the world and for Merida, she supposed, it was.

"What will you do now?"

Merida sighed. "Dismiss the clans, be sure my would-be suitors are tried, get my mother, and take my family back home to rule just as my father did," she answered quickly as if she'd been dreaming about it for so long it wasn't even a question. "But first…I imagine you'd like to be on yer own way home righ' abou' now…"

Home. Home would be…

The diner. That would be a good place to start.

She nodded and Merida rose from her bed of pillows. She packed a bag for her. Provisions for a day at sea, though she promised her that the "Ivory Sea" was actually more like a giant freshwater lake than an actual ocean, and then a map with directions to get her back to the place she'd last been with her friends. "Can you get yerself back from there?" she questioned as she packed it all up.

She only nodded. "I'll manage. Are we far from the boat? Do you know where we're going?"

"Aye, only a short distance away. We actually took more time going to the witches hut than it would have taken to get here. You don't mind horses do ya?"

No. She didn't mind horses. She wasn't terribly fond of riding them in a dress like this, but Merida assured her that it would get her back to the boats faster and that from the boat it was only another day to Camelot, by nightfall she'd be back, what Merida didn't know is that from there she'd have to find a way to find the others or contact them so she could get back to Granny's but she had a quarter of her rose petal left and her book of magic. She wasn't terribly worried about that step.

"Is there anything else I can getcha?" she questioned as the found a couple of horses outside and Merida left her brothers in charge with a warning about being responsible devils. "Is there anything I can get for you and yer friends for this quest yer on?"

The offer was generous, but the answer was no. She wasn't willing to waste anymore time away to explain entirely what was going on only to possibly find something that would help and while provisions of food would be lovely, without knowing how she was getting back to the diner she didn't want anything to slow her down. So she promptly told her that the only thing she needed was to get back, and the two rode off only a moment later.

The water was sparkling by the time they arrived at the shore and the boat that Merida had used to bring them here was right where she had left it on shore. She took the horses and tied them to a low hanging tree branch while Merida placed her bag of food, map, and her book into the little boat.

"Well it may not look like much but I can assure you it's fit for royalty!" she declared with a small blush on her cheeks.

"Absolutely," she agreed with a small giggle. This was odd. Odder than it had been with Mulan and with Ariel when she'd departed from them, probably because this time her friend wasn't just someone that she'd helped but also her captor and though she sensed that Merida wouldn't mind terribly if she reached out and hugged her, she also felt that it would probably be wildly inappropriate. So where did they go from here?

"Sure I can't help you on your friend's quest, it's the least I can do…" Merida volunteered again in the empty space.

"No, thank you for your offer but your Kingdom needs their Queen right now." And truth be told, they probably had everything they needed! Now that Merlin was around they knew that Emma had what she needed inside of her, she just had to discover it.

"What will you do about the man you love…or loved?" she asked. The question nearly knocked her off her feet.

Great question. She wished she knew the answer but for now, until she was back in Storybrooke and he was awake… "Still don't know," she answered honestly. "All I can do is hope that I get home and find a way to save him. But, succeed or fail, I do know one thing…I won't give up." If her conversation with Neal had taught her anything it was that. She would be with him until he woke up, beyond that it was hard to know what actions she'd take.

"You don't strike me as the giving up type!" Merida commented with an awkward smile that told her she knew how strange this moment was as well.

She shook her head. No, she wasn't the giving up type. But she did need to get back there and help so she could get home and give Merida the opportunity to go herself. "Well…I do hope our paths cross again," she admitted. Kidnapped or not she'd come to like the girl. She'd do well here on her own and maybe one day even find that man she dreamed of.

"Thank ya, Belle," Merida smiled but it faded quickly into seriousness. "For everything…"

She smiled and couldn't think of a thing to say, but she didn't need to, a second later Merida grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward. "Come on," she whispered guiding her to the boat. It was time to go. So she picked up her skirts and settled inside of the boat she'd come on. Merida pushed her off into the water and she began to row as she'd been instructed to in the direction of Camelot.

In dawn's light, the Queen stood and watched her go with her hands on her hips, her features shadowed in the rising sun. She watched her as she paddled away, a solid sentry for her people and then, when she was nothing but a spec, she turned and hiked back to her army's camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress anyone? Is the progress that she's making since way back at the beginning of Moments Taken starting to become a little clearer? There is obviously still some confusion in store, but she is moving in a forward motion, at least that's what I think it is. I hope that it seems like the development that we didn't get on the show. Also, the reason for Belle staying the night...aside from sun angles which suggested that she arrived in Dunbroch around the same time she left (I know, I know, probably because they shot the scenes back to back), I just felt it was a lot of running around for one day. Belle wakes up in DunBroch, they go to the cottage, then they go to the Moor, then they rescue her brothers, then Merida says "Oh, how wonderful I'm Queen again, now if you'll excuse me I have to get this woman back to the water before sundown!"...it all just seemed a little much to me. So I just had her stay put for the night.
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay, for your comments on the last chapter. I'm glad what I wanted to come through in it came through! Now I hope that you'll enjoy what's to come in the next few chapters. Belle/Merlin is up next, and some really important scenes at the diner follow! I can't wait to hear what ya'll think of this chapter and the Neal/Belle conversation! Peace and Happy Reading!


	45. Unrewarding Answers

It was well past nightfall by the time she got back to Camelot. She hadn't gotten lost or anything, Merida had simply underestimated her ability to row a boat. After an hour her arms and back had begun to grow tired and weightless, she pushed through it and three hours later her sides and back were splitting, her muscles began to twitch and whine, and by the time the sun fell and she was in the dark on the water everything but her toes felt as though it was on fire and would be if she didn't rest soon. She was hungry. She'd stopped the rowing to enjoy an apple for lunch and take a break but afterwards it had been so difficult to begin again that when dinner came around and her stomach began to growl she decided to press on. It had been nearly impossible to start again last time, if she stopped for dinner she might not start again at all. So she'd rowed on and on into dusk and nighttime and despite the fact that the shoreline she was finally approaching in the moonlight didn't look a bit familiar she nearly cried when she heard the bottom of the boat scratch across the sand.

"Oh!" she cried, tearing her fingers away from the oars and allowing herself to fall back into the boat with relief as her chest heaved. Still, even that motion had hurt.

_"Bit dramatic don't you think?"_

"Shut up Neal," she commanded the voice in her head. For once he was wrong. It didn't feel dramatic in the least to her to be still and relaxed for a moment. It felt absolutely lovely.

"Well that was a bit more dramatic than I expected."

Her eyes popped open at that voice and she sat up in her seat so quickly the boat rocked and broke free of its timid grip on the seabed and began to drift away.

"Careful now, let's bring you back to me."

Merlin. It was Merlin. His face was shadowed but she knew his voice and at his words, for no other explanation than magic, the boat changed directions and drifted back to the place it had been and then farther up the bank so that it was practically out of the water.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance," Merlin commented walked down sandy bed and offered his hand to her.

Her body ached at the thought that there was still walking to do but considering she was in Camelot, something she was certain of because she could feel the magic even from here, getting back to Granny's so she could sleep safely on the diner floor was preferable to laying down and getting caught here. Hell, maybe in light of her recent journey she could put in a good word for taking the bed upstairs that they'd been trading off on.

"Thanks," she muttered placing her hand in Merlin's. Her arm felt like jelly as he pulled her to her feet and she fought the urge to cry as he pulled her over the edge of the boat but she managed to stand better than she thought she had. The movement had put a strain on her legs but it was nothing like what she felt in her arms. "Where are the others?" she questioned. "Are they still in the woods?"

"At my persuasion they returned to the diner, we all did actually."

"They...they went home?!"

"Of course. I knew there was nothing to worry about the moment I met the girl. You were all she needed to get her brothers back," the moonlight caught his teeth and she knew he was smiling bright.

"You knew?" she questioned softly. It was amazing, even when she knew to expect the unexpected with Merlin it still caught her off guard.

"I lost my bark, not my foresight. A little bit of directed guidance and your future was easy to see this time around. I assured the others when you went missing that it was only for a day and with Arthur in pursuit we returned to Granny's to get the new King to safety while we waited for your arrival. I was sent to fetch you and before I forget, I believe this belongs to you!"

From the base of a tree at the river back he grabbed something, something that reflected in the moonlight, a shape that was so familiar she would have known it with only half the light as this. The bell jar. Her rose. She took an eager step forward to grab it so she could hold it in her arms again-

But then stopped.

What were the chances that Merlin would appear here the very moment her boat docked holding the thing that she wanted more than anything in the world right now, the same thing she'd told Regina not to let out of her sight? How many times had trusting someone weakened her and made her gullible?

Camelot wasn't safe right now, not for Merlin or Lancelot and not even her. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had used magic to fool her.

"My arms are too tired to hold it, will you show me the rose?" she suggested standing back and waiting for his answer.

But the answer never came and neither did the sight of the rose inside of it. In the darkness Merlin's lips twisted upwards and he cocked his head to one side as he examined her. "That's a trick question," he informed her. "You remember from our conversation at the well, the conversation during which I showed you visions of your Rumpelstiltskin through the water, that I was unable to work this particular piece of magic. But what you don't take into consideration is the amount of time that you've been gone and that old dogs can, in fact, learn new tricks. I could show you my ability to show you your rose, but you and I both know it doesn't have to be in your hands to work the glass, don't we? So…have I convinced you of my true identity?"

He had. His speech was long and unnecessary because she'd been convinced the moment he mentioned their talk at the well. And so, despite her weak arms she reached out for the bell jar, held it up before her eyes and revealed the shimmering rose in the darkness.

Her heart sank.

She didn't know what she'd expected. That things would be perfect again? That's she'd return from this trip and find that the rose had fixed itself and everything was okay again?! That was ignorant. Merida had her brothers and her Kingdom back but all she had was a spell book and a wilting rose. She stifled a sniff and held the jar in her arms. What she needed was suddenly irrelevant, what she wanted was clear. She wanted to go home. She wanted to sit by his side and try and figure out a way to put those petals up onto the flower again. And yes she knew that he might wake up but despite being unprepared for it, she knew that she wanted him too.

"The results not what you expected?" Merlin inquired besides her.

"I don't know what I expected," she answered honestly. "Life isn't fair, it never is and I know that-"

"But it would be nice if life could give us little rewards for the things we do right and punishments for the things we do wrong."

She'd opened her mouth, poised to agree with him, right up until that last pronouncement. She'd never looked at it that way. Of course, just like everyone else she'd wished that she'd be rewarded for struggles but she'd never considered that if that was the case then there would be punishment for wrong doings and…

"If that was the case then Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't be around," she concluded with certainty. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that it would be that way and the idea of it, of a life that she'd never even met Rumpelstiltskin…it was too awful to imagine. Her past was clear, it was her future she couldn't make sense of.

"You said, when we were at the well, that I had a decision to make…"

"Indeed I did."

"But what about Rumple? Do you see a future for him? Or will he…"

Beside her Merlin sighed. "There are many obstacles ahead of you Belle and those choices, though you may be led to believe they affect only you, affect others as well. His future is still very much tied to your own."

"So…when he wakes up, if I stay with him…he'll get better."

"I didn't say that."

"If I stay he won't change?!"

"I didn't say that either," he corrected mysteriously.

She hated these games. All she wanted was a decision, not even a decision really! All she really wanted was a direction, something to at least give her a hint of what to do when she got back! "So what are you saying, then?" she asked outright.

Merlin smirked again and took a few steps closer to her. "I'm saying that all things are possible if you believe and pursue them. It's possible one day even the Darkness could be used for good with the right person in control of it. Our decisions make us who we are, good and bad. But if you abandon all hope before you've made the decision…then I suppose you'll never know the riddle's outcome will you?"

She didn't even bother trying to hide her frustrated sigh from him. Lesson learned, no asking about the future because all she was likely to get was gibberish that even she couldn't decipher! Maybe he was right. Maybe the only way to move forward was to make a decision and see where it led her. Though she hated that thought. Wasn't that what she'd been doing? It certainly had gotten her little but heartbreak in all her years.

"Well my lady, it's getting late and you look as though you could use a wonderful concoction I have recently discovered called coffee. Would you like to go home now?" Merlin asked extending his hand once more.

Home. Home would be lovely. But for now, if she couldn't have answers and she couldn't have assurance, then she supposed Granny's would do. So she nodded, retrieved her bag from the boat, and took his hand again.

This time she remembered to hold her breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? How's that for character development? We've got a little bit more to go before the end of this fiction and of course, it'll all get erased until nearly the end of MC&U but...better that what the show gave us I hope? Oh, and this conversation actually serves a few purposes, besides the Rumple stuff it also solves the whole "Merlin said the Darkness could be used for good" problem. You remember that sentence, right? That was Belle's argument for getting Rumple to help her 5B. And yes, it was true, Merlin did say that...but not to Belle. Merlin doesn't say that until he was alone in the woods with Emma and trust me, I tried to think about ways and reasons that Emma would take Belle aside and tell her...I couldn't get it to fit. So...there's this chapter, another beautiful Merlin/Belle chapter so that he can repeat himself because clearly, A&E can't even keep track of the little things anymore.
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay, for the comments you left on the last chapter! I'm so happy you've all enjoyed the last few chapters, even though 5x06 is officially coming to an end with this chapter you will enjoy what I've done with 5x07-5x10. I won't lie, that section was possibly the most challenging because it got to the point where it felt like the boys just said "screw it!" and put whoever they felt like in the scenes with no rhyme or reason and without any consideration for what the other characters were doing. Figuring it all out was a stretch, but I'm hopeful that you'll like the direction I took it. I haven't failed you yet...I hope...Peace and Happy Reading!


	46. The Escalation of the Dark Swan

There wasn't as much shock when she arrived back at Granny's diner with Merlin by her side in a cloud of grey smoke as when Merlin had moved her and the diner to its new location a week or so ago. She didn't feel dizzy, her breathing hardly felt disrupted, and her feet felt perfectly grounded. It was an odd change, but one glance outside and she understood easily enough that it was because this time they'd only crossed space and not time.

Her shock was minimal, everyone else's, on the other hand, was not.

"Belle!" the others exclaimed when she arrived back in the main room. They were all there. David, Emma, and Lancelot were all sitting at one table while Killian and Henry sat at another with what looked like a newspaper. Mary Margaret jiggled Neal in her arms, Robin, Regina, and Roland appeared to be playing "Go Fish" at one of the booths, though she had no idea where they'd gotten the cards, and although Zelena was nowhere in sight she could easily see the dwarves standing by the giant walk-in refrigerator. They were all there, all awake and active despite the late hour. And they were happy to see her. Mary Margaret actually hugged her. "We were so worried!" she confessed with a sigh.

"It was fine, really," she assured her.

"Just as I said," Merlin commented behind her before grabbing an apple off the counter. "She did wonderfully on her own."

"You have to tell us where you went, what you did!" Henry begged.

Her head was spinning as she set her rose aside so her arms could automatically take Neal from Mary Margaret. "Maybe later," she suggested bouncing the baby in her arms. "Merida will always be there, the story won't change, but our situation…what's been going on since I left? Do we have a plan?"

"Ah…not really we've…we've been waiting for you to get back," David admitted with a heavy sigh.

"It's hard to focus when someone missing is hanging over your head, with or without the promise from the greatest sorcerer that everything is fine," Regina explained behind her.

Her words were sarcastic, but she only ever knew Regina to call people names like she just had Merlin when she really was under a great amount of stress. To the others it was just an odd comment from Regina, but to her…it meant a lot more to her than she thought it would have.

"Thank you," she muttered glancing over her shoulder. They didn't need any more than that. She still wouldn't say that after these last few weeks together she was ready to forgive Regina for what she'd done with her heart, but every day it certainly got easier and easier to believe that she had told the truth about why she had taken it in the first place.

"Does this mean we can move on now?" Emma asked from behind her parents in an odd tone. It gave her chills. She sounded bored and frustrated, angry almost at her departure and arrival, at the time that had been wasted. There were circles under her eyes, dark ones, and her eyes themselves were different than she remembered them. They were so cold it was almost…heartless. "Now that she's back can we move on and get this out of me?" she went on despite the looks she was getting from her family and friends.

"Perhaps," Merlin answered for them. "But I don't see what can be done this late at night with everyone as tired as they are. My recommendation is to get a good night of sleep and we can all start fresh in the morning. Do you think you can wait that long Emma?"

There was something more to their conversation. Nearly everything that he'd said had been directed at the entire group but that last sentence…that was just for Emma. And it hadn't been asked in an insignificant way, there was something more serious to what he'd just asked, something she couldn't identify. But when she opened her mouth to ask what she'd missed while she'd been away she only saw more confusion on the faces of everyone else. They were just as confused as she'd been. What was going on now?

"It'll be fine," Emma responded after a few seconds. "It sounds like a great idea," she spat before walking off into the other room. It was odd. She knew that despite what Emma had said she wasn't "fine" with waiting and in her mind, it was nothing like a "great idea" and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces they knew it too. But they listened to Merlin and continued to bed down as though nothing had changed. The kids were put upstairs to bed for the night and Mary Margaret and David won the drawing to spend the night with them. They tried to offer the room to her since she'd been away, but the moment Neal began to fuss she realized that it would probably be a better idea to sleep on the floor of the diner than upstairs in the bed when Neal would wake her and need Mary Margaret every few hours. Besides, she'd gotten a decent enough sleep the night before. And so Mary Margaret and David disappeared upstairs, Granny passed blankets out for the rest of them, tables were arranged, spots on the floor were claimed, booths called for and before she knew it Granny had locked the doors and taken the first watch with Lancelot.

The diner was quiet. She bedded down on the floor in the hallway by the bathroom, away from the others, where she could let the glass of her bell jar clear and allow the rose to shimmer and glow before her like a nightlight without bothering any of the others. For a while. It was probably the longest that she'd ever let the glass unfog and stare at the rose for more than just a minute or two.

Yes, it was wilting. Petals were falling. But it's color was still rich, the glow bright, the rose was dying but it wasn't dead yet. It had been nearly six weeks since they'd arrived and so far nothing but a few petals had fallen. She would have thought if he was going to die it would have been long ago. But now, laying there in the middle of the night, more tired and exhausted than she ever knew it was possible to be and unable to sleep there was a thought that blossomed and bloomed in her own mind. One she hadn't let herself think about since they'd left the castle and she'd thought she'd seen a petal drift back up and place itself back on that rose.

Where they more connected than she thought?

"Are you waiting for me?" she whispered as she stared. "Can you hear me? Are you listening when I tell you to hold on until I'm back?" She smirked because while she was willing to believe that it was possible, that Mother Superiors magic was capable of doing remarkable things that she hadn't even scratched the surface of yet, it wasn't Mother Superior she had trouble believing in. "Since when did you actually start listening to the things I say? Or at least doing the things that I ask of you?"

She swallowed hard and glanced around her at the people spread over tables and chairs and the floor. She took in their breathing, the rise and fall of their chests and did her best to check eyes despite the odd angles. They were sleeping. But she still felt her cheeks grow red and hushed her voice. "I don't know what will happen when I get home, I don't know if you can hear me, or know where I am but I know…I know what I told Merida is true, even if I didn't realize it until she said it. I'm not giving up until I know what I'm going to do about…about us."

Her eyes were heavy. She couldn't be sure of anything that was happening as she let them close but she could have sworn that she saw a petal drift upwards and put itself back onto the bud. If it could get worse, it could get better.

Of course, bad situations didn't always have to get better, they could always get worse too. She was tired but she didn't sleep through the morning, she couldn't and she suspected no one else could either. It wasn't dawn, but it was near there. Pale blue light filled the diner. The room was cold like it always was first thing in the morning. But the diner wasn't quiet. Something had brought her out of sleep. Something more than the normal guard change. And it was…whispers?

People were talking?

No. Just one. One person was talking. By themselves? This early while everyone was sleeping?

She looked around and strained her ears. It was hushed, the voice was difficult to identify but the tone made it easy. Cold. So cold it made her shiver. "Get out of my head. Leave me alone." Emma. She pushed herself up off the ground and looked into the main room. She didn't see anything. Where was she? "I said leave me alone and get out of my head!"

Yes. That was loud enough for her to identify Emma for sure. And for another table and booth to whine as someone else adjusted and began to wake at the noise. But where…?

"No! You can't convince me otherwise. I need this out of me! You're lying. It's not as good as you say. I'm good. I'm better than this!" She was crying. Her voice was cracking and straining and Belle pushed herself up off the floor to get a better look into the dining room.

"Emma?" Killian was awake.

"Regina…" she saw Robin push against Regina's arm to wake her at his side. He was staring. They all were. At her?! No. She took a few timid steps into the diner and saw Emma was seated just below the window. She couldn't see her eyes but she could see that she was concentrating on something behind the counter. But…there was nothing there. She looked around. Where was Merlin?

"Swan, it's in your head, there is no crocodile."

Crocodile? Rumpelstiltskin?!

"He's in my head," Emma whimpered not taking her eyes off that spot on the wall. "It's worse than not being here!"

"Emma…take a deep breath and get a grip," Regina encouraged getting up and stepping forward slowly, as if Emma was a bomb. Maybe she was.

Granny was inside, Lancelot was inside. Merlin and Leroy were missing. They must have been keeping watch somewhere outside. She grabbed Happy who was in the same doorway as she was and gave him a small push in the direction of the back door. "Get Merlin," she ordered.

"No! Not Merlin! Merlin's the problem! He wants me to change!"

"He wants to help you," Killian insisted. "The crocodile doesn't!"

Emma was shaking. She could see it in her neck as she moved around her and into the room.

"It was only because I had the darkness I could free him," Emma said. "Maybe it's not bad, maybe I can control it."

"No one can control it, Emma," she stated as calmly as possible. "It's just a trick, you have to know that the darkness won't help you and it won't make you better, it'll just take away everyone you love."

"I can protect them."

"From who?" Regina questioned cautiously.

"From him! From me! Merlin!" She wasn't sure what Emma was saying anymore, what she was talking about. It was all gibberish. She couldn't even be sure that she was really talking to them anymore. But she knew that the most dangerous thing in the room suddenly wasn't the voices in her head. It was the arm that she was raising, taunt and shaking at the wall. "I can protect them," Emma whispered to the invisible being at the wall.

"Emma!" Regina warned.

"Swan listen to me!" Killian took a few steps forward but Emma shifted and turned and suddenly that hand was facing him. "Emma."

"I can protect you."

"Right now I don't think I'm the one that needs help," he whispered.

Footsteps. There were footsteps behind her and when she moved to tell Happy to get moving she realized her mistake. It wasn't Happy. It was the person she'd sent for, the one person she realized too late they didn't need right now. Merlin.

"Emma," he whispered with his smooth soft voice. "Listen to me not the darkness inside."

It was the wrong thing to say. But when Emma turned and she saw the wild wide-eyed look in her eyes and that hand that was suddenly trained on Merlin she knew that anything would have been the wrong thing to say.

"I can protect us from you," she said in that cool emotionless tone.

Someone screamed at her to get on the floor. She felt Merlin's hands on her back, then the floor against her body. There was the sound of white noise around her, a flash of bright light. She covered her eyes and felt a body cover her own.

Glass shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but I had to do something for the beginning of 5x07. Why? Because otherwise, the beginning of 5x07 is just random. All of a sudden most (but notice again, not all) of the main characters are gathered around and with little reason freaking out because "OMG Emma's the Dark One and she's not doing well, what do we do!" It left me watching that scene saying "OMG Emma's been the Dark One for six episodes now, and I don't know what you've been watching writers, but she's not been doing well all that time! Why didn't we have this freak out six episodes ago?" So I orchestrated this little event for the sole purpose of making it seem like something bad had happened to provoke that conversation. I hope it works for you all.
> 
> On to the next, Peace and Happy Reading!


	47. Memories of Memories

The buzz of magic faded from the air the moment she heard the shatter of glass. Her body, every muscle beneath her skin, whined at the sudden movement to the floor and the body covering her, but when she moved her fingers she felt small beads of glass between her skin and floor. Sore as her body was from rowing the cover was welcomed. From where she lay she could see every window had burst, even the glasses behind the bar had mysteriously disappeared. Shattered, just like the rest of the glass in the diner. Just like...

Her heart skipped a beat and the rest of the world faded as she struggled beneath Merlin, who had apparently been the one to push and cover her when Emma exploded. Finally, she maneuvered herself enough to get a good glanced back into the hallway...the fogged glass of her rose was still whole.

She felt herself sigh as her body relaxed for a moment and she silently thanked the Blue Fairy for making something that could endure even…

Emma!

The rose was safe and suddenly the rest of the world faded back into view. Emma was no longer on the floor but on her two feet staring at the place that Merlin had been when he stood. Her eyes were still wide but they were no longer crazed. They were afraid. They were more fearful than she'd ever known eyes could be. She looked like she was in shock. All of them looked like they were in shock! Regina and Robin, Killian, Granny, even Merlin they were all staring at Emma, but Emma she was staring at her own hand, the one that she'd thrown out in front of Merlin. She turned it around and was staring at her shaking palm as if she could find the answer or replay what had just happened! But...

What _had_ just happened?

"Emma…" but the breaking of silence, the tone of Regina's voice, no matter how calm, didn't seem to calm Emma in the least. She turned around and grabbed something on the ground where she'd been, something she hadn't noticed before. She grabbed more than one! Whatever it was she had, she gathered them in her arms, whispered hurried and feverish "I'm sorry's" as she rushed passed Regina and Robin Hood and hurried out the door. Which seemed silly given the fact that it was more or less just a frame and a handle at the moment, not even that pane of glass had survived.

Emma didn't go far. She watched as she ran to the edge of the property, dropped whatever it was she'd gathered up at the well and stood hunched over it, gasping for breath. Henry made a motion, he took a step to go after her but Robin put his arm out and shook his head.

"Not a good idea," he muttered as Henry lost the little enthusiasm for following her out the door.

"What the hell was that?" Regina asked the rest of them as she looked down at the floor and kicked some of the glass.

"What" was the right question, but she had an odd feeling that she wasn't asking the right "what". Obviously, she wanted to know what had happened but at the moment she'd rather know what was it that Emma had carried out with her? What was so important she couldn't leave it behind when she barely seemed able to breathe?!

The danger passed, Merlin offered her a hand and she rose, wincing at her sore muscles, but then her eyes focused on three items that Emma apparently couldn't carry. Rounded branches, twine wrapped around them so they looked like spider webs, and feathers that hung down from them. Dream catcher. Emma was making dream catchers and any other time, anywhere else in the world she wouldn't have seen a problem with that...but a memory she didn't even know would ever really be important made her body tingle. They were good for more than dreams.

"Why on earth would Emma be making these?" she questioned, fighting the pain and bending over to pick them up.

"What?" Regina questioned as she heard footsteps behind her. "What's she making?"

She turned and handed her one of the dreamcatchers.

Killian sighed as he looked over Regina's shoulder. "She's been having trouble sleeping, Baelfire taught her to make them, it seems to bring her peace," he explained as though it was nothing. But it wasn't nothing. If she was remembering correctly this was more than just Neal telling Emma about dreamcatchers. They did more than catch dreams and Emma was well aware of that!

"Do you know what these do?!" she demanded of Hook.

He turned back at her frustrated, his hand nearly on the knob to go out to where Emma was waiting, pacing-

"What's going on here? We heard a crash!" She glanced over to see Lancelot, Henry, Mary Margaret, and David had joined them again, though apparently left the children upstairs. David and Lancelot both had their swords belted and ready to use. But it was unnecessary. Magic couldn't be fought with swords and arrows.

"Emma appears to be getting worse," Merlin stated for her. "I was unaware she was so far gone."

"So far gone?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"She's making dreamcatchers," she explained, holding one out to Mary Margaret and David.

"It's a bloody dreamcatcher, it's not a dark curse!" Killian argued.

"But it is dark magic!" Regina yelled.

"It can be," she corrected before anything could escalate beyond what it already was. "It's not Dark magic unless she uses it for a dark purpose."

"A dark purpose?" Hook challenged abandoning the door and advancing upon them. "What could possibly be so damn dark about arts and crafts?! What does any of it have to do with what happened here?!"

"Dream catchers can be used to remove memories," she responded quickly. "I've seen it done but I've also read about it," she explained when the room went quiet again. "Dream catchers are used to extract memories from those who will not or cannot relinquish them. The last time I saw it used, Rumple removed memories from a dog, harmless but still Dark.

"Regina…what's in them?"

Regina's magic wasn't like Emma's had been the first time she'd seen a dream catcher in action. Instead of looking at it and staring with concentration Regina just waved a hand over it. The dream catcher shimmered with golden light, but no image appeared. "Nothing," Regina concluded. "They don't have memories but they are enchanted with magic. They have the ability to pull memories they just haven't been used yet."

"Well, why would Emma want to do that?" Robin asked, repeating her original question.

She set her remaining dream catcher down in the diner's window and shook her head. She honestly had no idea. It didn't exactly make sense to her. But there was a lot about this that didn't make sense to her these days. And despite Rumple she never had been able to see the Dark One's plans until it was too late. Rumple on the other hand…

"Killian you should go to her," she suggested.

"I can go," Mary Margaret volunteered.

She only shook her head. "That wasn't Emma that attacked Merlin it was the Darkness within her. Rumple never talked to himself when we were together, but he did tell me that the voices were quiet. I'm sorry, you might be able to talk some sense into her but I'm going off what I know." She turned back to Killian. "True love might not be able to cure her right now, but it does have its advantages. Use them to calm her down and get Emma back."

Killian was still frowning, but he was ready to leave and see Emma.

"Clearly, the time has come to make a plan," Merlin commented.

"All due respect, I think we passed that time a month and a half ago," Killian muttered as he moved to open the door, but then shook his head with frustration and just stepped through the place the glass had been.

"I can fix that," Regina commented stepping forward.

"Please…allow me…" Merlin suggested. Regina yielded her spot in the middle of the room to Merlin. The man made a few circular motions with his arm and then raised his hands. The glass around them rose off the floor before fitting itself back into the windows and door as if it had never happened. But it had happened. And for the first time she began to wonder if Killian was right, if they really were too late.

"This sounds as though it's a problem for family, not Camelot. You have my assistance of course if you need it and want it, but if not perhaps my time could be better spend gathering something to eat."

"Thank you Lancelot, that would be…we'd all be grateful," David answered. The man excused himself and she was surprised to find that Granny and the dwarves followed. David and Mary Margaret settled into a booth. She opened her mouth to ask Merlin what they needed to do now, but a bang suddenly erupted from the behind the wall she was standing by. The walk-in freezer. Zelena. She must have felt something or heard what was going on and since she couldn't use her voice to ask or yell she was resorting to other methods, like banging on the door as a three-year-old on time out would; a method Regina clearly didn't care for. She watched as Regina moved around the diner and slapped the metal door back. "Quiet!" she shouted. "We've got bigger problems than you at the moment!"

Above her, she heard the sharp screech of Neal who'd been left in the upstairs bedroom. And small footsteps. Roland was up too. Somewhere deep down she felt an ounce of her patience slip away. When it rained it poured. First Emma, then Zelena, now the kids! She didn't want to leave, not at a time like this after everything that had happened, but when she considered the fact that she wasn't really related to Emma, that Henry was safe, Zelena locked up, and that they had Merlin for magical advice, she figured that she was the best choice to play babysitter at the moment.

"I'll watch the kids," she muttered. "Let me know what you decide." And with that, she grabbed her book of spells and her bell jar on the way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter (as well as the last) kind of work hand in hand to set up that first scene we saw in 5x07. And yes, I know I sent Hook outside for it, but my thinking there was that in that opening 5x07 scene he seemed to be a little more on edge than the rest of them, even Mary Margaret and David. I figured sending him outside to see just how bad Emma is, coupled with the new knowledge of the dreamcatchers is enough to do that when he comes back inside. Plus, if you watch that scene, it would appear that we come into the middle of their conversation, so this gives some time for the beginning of it to take place.
> 
> Thank you, WhoChippedMyCup and Deweymay for the interesting comments you left on the last chapter. Ready for some pretty outstanding news you may or may not be aware of? Brace yourselves, Camelot flashbacks from 5x07-5x10...all one day. Crazy, I know, but if you track it right, it all happens in one day. This morning they wake up in the diner, in less than twenty-four hours they will be back in Storybrooke without memories. Honestly, the pacing with this half season was off so horribly; it means we spent six weeks in Camelot over the course of six episodes, then one day over the course of three episodes (arguably four). Bad pacing, hopefully, mine has been a little better? Maybe? Possibly? Peace and Happy Reading!


	48. Eyes Almost Open

"Roland, make your bed and pick up your clothes please, then we can play a game."

"Why can't we go downstairs and play with Regina and Daddy and Henry?" the boy asked as he obediently began pulling blankets up and over the place he had slept last night. It was a child's work and her fingers itched to reach other and smooth over the covers, but she managed to resist and simply continued to change Neal atop the desk. They'd run out of diapers weeks ago and were reduced to using cloth ones with pins from Camelot. She was getting the hang of it, but she was also looking forward to the day that they would be able to go home and use diapers from The Land without Magic again. Secretly, she suspected Neal was looking forward to it as well.

"We'll go down in a few minutes, Roland. Regina and your father are talking, remember?"

"What about Henry?"

Honestly, she didn't know about Henry. She'd come up here an hour ago to get Neal and check on Roland while the others were talking about what to do with Emma. Roland and Neal had both been awake, though while Neal was up just because he was a baby, Roland had heard the entire thing downstairs and been too terrified to cry. It was astounding what he picked up when they were trying so hard to keep things from him. Despite Robin and Granny and Regina and everyone else telling him that things were fine and he shouldn't worry, he'd thought that King Arthur had come to kill his family. He hid under the bed, and it wasn't until Neal started to cry that he got up to soothe the baby so no one would know they were there that he instead tucked himself and baby Neal under this very desk to hide. He'd been terrified when she walked into the room and calming a screaming baby and a terrified toddler was no easy task, but she had managed to get him out from under the desk, assure him everything was alright, and keep track of what was going on downstairs by looking out the window.

She'd observed Killian sitting with Emma for a long while by the well, and she seemed to calm down. The next time that she turned back to look was when she heard the bell downstairs chime, indicating that someone had come inside. She looked outside again and found that it must have been Hook because Emma was alone again, sitting just outside the diner. Hook was nowhere in sight and Emma was contently, and maybe even obsessively, working on her dream catchers again. That was nerve wracking. But at least she was doing it in full view of the others and not hiding it.

From downstairs, she could hear a soft rhythmic vibration of speaking. They were talking. Emma was weaving. It was progress. Though she honestly didn't know if it was good progress or bad. She stood by the window now, Neal in her arms, Roland working on the bed, trying to decipher the body language not of Emma, but of Merlin. She'd heard the door open and close again only a few seconds ago and stood up, expecting to see Killian talking to Emma again. But it wasn't Killian. It was Merlin. She tried to read his body language…hers…but she had no idea what was going on.

"Henry is downstairs," she finally answered Roland off-handedly. Where was Henry? She hadn't seen him since he'd gone downstairs with David and Mary Margaret. Would they let him sit inside as they discussed Emma? Or had they sent him out back? Was he sitting outside the diner, or out with the others doing...whatever they'd all gone off to do while they dealt with the Emma problem. She didn't know anymore. There were so many people here in this little campsite it was hard to keep track of them. It made her head spin if she tried too hard. Her body was growing sorer and sorer by the second from the rowing she'd done the other day, the last thing she needed was her head to hurt as well.

"There!" Roland declared finishing the bed. "Can we go play outside now?"

"Roland…where are your manners?" she turned around to see Robin Hood and Regina standing behind her. She hadn't heard them come up.

"Sorry Daddy. Can we please go play outside now?" Roland begged with a toothy smile that made her smirk even given the stressful situation.

"Would you mind?" Robin asked almost nervously. The timidness was oddly reassuring. He knew he was putting her in a position to babysit and didn't want to make her do that unless it was absolutely necessary. She didn't know what they'd talked about or decided, but she knew that if they needed her, then Robin wouldn't be asking her to babysit. She nodded and stepped forward to take Roland down the ladder Regina had made to get up to the second floor since the stairs were still in Storybrooke, but Regina held up her hand.

"Actually...I'd like a word first," she stated making her heart race. Maybe it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Robin Hood took Neal from her arms and held Roland's hand as the boy hopped out of the room. Regina…Regina stood before her, abnormally quiet, looking worried.

"Regina?" she questioned automatically crossing her arms over her chest, the only thing she could do to protect her heart. It was silly, she knew. Everyone was downstairs, Robin knew she was up here alone, he wouldn't leave her in danger...but she'd learned that being weary around Regina was always in her best interest. "What's happening?"

"The impossible," she answered sitting down on the bed. "Something is bothering me…"

She shook her head. "What?"

"Merlin told us how we need to get the Darkness out of Emma, or at least that's what he wants us to think…"

Riddles. She knew that "hate" was a powerful word but in this case it was appropriate. She hated riddles. Rumple, Regina, David…why couldn't everyone just say what they had to say?! "Start from the beginning," she insisted. "What happened with Merlin? What did he or…didn't he tell you?"

Regina nodded. "There are two things that we need to get the darkness out of Emma. It turns out King Arthur was right about one thing, we do need the sword and the dagger to be one, but the magic is so old or advanced or both that there's only one thing that can reunite them, something called the Spark of Prometheus, have you heard of it?"

She nodded. She'd read about it in the same mythology book that she'd read about the Drink of Ursa, though it too had a different name. "I've heard of the Fire of Prometheus, and I assume they are one in the same."

"What do you know about it?"

She took a deep breath and sat down at the desk. "The story I heard was that Prometheus was an ancient demi-god. The World Without Magic says that he created mankind, but the story I know is different. He made a bet with another god that lesser beings, beings without magic, could survive on earth without magical assistance. So the gods created a small group of them and agreed not to interfere with the beings but after only a week, when the beings began dying off Prometheus took pity on them and found what he thought was a loophole. He didn't interfere with the beings he just set a small fire for them to find, it enabled them to cook food and survive but the god he made the bed with didn't see things the way he did. He lost the bet because he cheated and was cast out of heaven but allowed t keep his magic. Our world says that's why there are some people are able to do magic and others aren't. Those who can are descended from Prometheus, who was stripped of his immortality but allowed to keep his magic. Those who cannot are descended from the non-magical group that was created for the bet."

Regina nodded. "Any idea what became of him or his fire?"

She shook her head. "Without immortality, I assume Prometheus died eventually, but the fire was said to be unquenchable because it was created by a god, it could never be destroyed, but I have no idea where it would be. Until this moment I've always believed it was just a myth."

"Well, apparently it's the only thing old and pure enough to put Excalibur back together again and once it is then we can use it to 'cut away' Emma's magic, the Curse of the Dark One. Merlin says he knows where the spark is. He's taking Emma with him to get it; they'll be back by nightfall, the rest of us…we're going off to get the other half of the sword."

And there was so much about the idea that just didn't make sense. "But-but the other half of the sword is with Arthur! After we freed Lancelot, I doubt he's going to let it out of his sight! And the castle is a day away! You won't be back by nightfall, and if you steal that sword from him, it's not like Lancelot! He'll come after us! We'll need to move the diner again!"

Regina nodded again. "I can use magic to get us there," she insisted. "I'm sure he'll have wards set up inside the castle against my magic by now, but I can get us close enough, as for getting it from Arthur…we'll figure that out now."

Now? While they were in the bedroom and everyone else was downstairs? Or was she not the "we" they were thinking of. "What's wrong Regina? Really? What's really bothering you because it doesn't sound like any of that-"

"Something just doesn't feel right," she interrupted quickly. "And it doesn't make sense. Merlin told us what we needed, but he didn't tell us how we could use them! Taking someone's magic away from them even if they are willing isn't easy and 'cutting magic away' can hardly be as easy as cutting away a person's shadow."

"You think Merlin is leaving something out."

"He has to be! He's given us the ingredients, but he hasn't given us the recipe. And I know he's not exactly the most forthcoming guy in the room but something about this…it just feels wrong," Regina finally concluded looking at her with sad, pleading eyes.

Now she understood. She wasn't part of the "we" that would meet downstairs and discuss break-ins, she was part of another secret "we".

"You want me to look into it," she assumed. "You know we don't have a lot; I didn't get to take the entire tower with me, and I didn't plan for anything like this-"

"I understand it's a longshot, but I've seen you work miracles with less when you figured out where Glinda was with books you stole in a heartbeat."

She felt herself blush and look away, trying not to let Regina's flattery influence her, though now that she'd said it that was difficult to do. Regina was right; she had found them answers when they knew a lot less than they did. Considering the tasks they normally gave to her, this should have been a piece of cake! If only she wasn't missing one essential thing.

"I've worked miracles with less than only a handful of books at my disposal when I knew which books to take and what I was looking for. I didn't plan for this when we left, Regina, if the information isn't there…it's not there."

Regina set her jaw and looked her in the eye with unphased determination. "Fine. Then at least we'll know we went into this with our eyes as open as they could be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regina is me in this chapter. Is Regina you too? I kinda hope so. Nothing about this seemed right. And yes, I know it was probably a problem on the writers part, "Oh my goodness we've only got three more episodes to solve this problem! Double time now!" But the more I thought about it the more I began to wonder...did Merlin expect Emma to kill herself? Dark, I know, and they'd obviously never come right out and say it because of that, "family show" and all that jazz. But the more I thought about it, the more it began to make sense to me. I don't know, it's just a possibility, but if you ever have the theory in your head that the Darkness must be put inside of one vessel and then killed with the sword for the curse to die away, then watch the series and what Merlin says to Emma and how he tries to prepare her...it's a bit frightening. So I created this conversation for Regina because I think she would sense that if it's what was going on. I'm not saying it was; I'm just saying that Merlin is kind of shady.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter. Fun fact, we're on the countdown. There are only ten chapters left in MT; that means ten chapters until we are back in Storybrooke and Moments Clear and Unclear can begin. Now there is a real Rumbelle story I hope that ya'll will be able to really sink your teeth into. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed and will continue to enjoy what's in store for MT. Not a lot to work with but I did my best and you can trust me when I say there are still some good chapters coming up (because Lord knows we can't trust A&E when they say it)! Peace and Happy Reading!


	49. From Grandmother to Grandson

Their eyes were as open as they could be. That was her conclusion.

When she and Regina descended the ladder after their talk, Emma and Merlin were already gone. The dwarves had gone out to help Lancelot hunt for food, which put Regina, and pretty much everyone else, on Zelena guard duty. Granny and Henry were with Roland and little Neal outside playing loudly, which was still a much better environment than watching Zelena brood as she studied. So she grabbed the few books she had and left the others to their planning so she could read on the back steps occasionally glancing up to find Roland enjoying his time with Henry. They didn't have a lot of toys around, but she knew that Regina had transformed everything she could get her hands on into something to keep the boy busy. A boulder had become a large rubber ball. Some dying leafs were now small figurines. A venomous snake Roland found had succumbed just as the flying monkey had and was now upstairs sitting on the bed the boys shared. And a few sticks had become a bow and arrow, not just for little Roland, Regina had made enough for Roland, Robin, and Snow. In fact, when she'd left out the back door she'd observed that one of the bows and quivers was missing and assumed that was what Lancelot had taken with him to hunt.

She sat on the back steps while Granny watched the children, and read. It wasn't long before Robin and Regina appeared again and informed her they were leaving, no muss, no fuss. They were taking Zelena with them and would hopefully be back before Emma. "If you're not? When do we panic? What am I supposed to tell your sons?!" she hissed back. She understood why they were leaving so quickly and quietly, why they didn't want the boys to know, but she had to admit that it felt unnecessary to worry on so many levels.

"If we're not back by nightfall then panic," Regina concluded. "But don't come after us. Get Merlin to use the Apprentices Wand to get you back to Storybrooke. We'll find our own way."

"Regina…" she argued, it only took that one word because it was such a ridiculous notion.

"She's right," she looked back over her shoulder to see Mary Margaret standing at the door with her arms crossed over the front of her. "If something happens to us we'll find our way home, but with no way for us to communicate…get the boys to safety, check on Rumpelstiltskin. If we're not back in time then we got ourselves into this mess, we'll get ourselves out of it and get home as fast as we can."

"The odds of crossing realms without the wand are-"

"We've faced worse odds before and succeeded," Regina insisted. "You're not the only miracle worker around here."

And then they were gone. They'd ushered themselves back into the diner and she hadn't heard another peep from inside all morning. When she finally went back inside to double check that all the books she'd needed were with her, she found that the diner was empty. They were gone. By magic she assumed, off to defeat King Arthur or at least take what they needed to help Emma.

How exactly was the sword going to help Emma? She still didn't know. She had so few books that two hours later, she knew without a doubt they didn't have what they needed to solve this mystery here. So far, all she'd found when it came to stripping a magician of magic was that it was a difficult task that could take days, and that was if the person was willing. Was Emma willing? She'd said she was ready, but she couldn't help but think that the events of this morning said something completely different. And this wasn't just magic they were stripping away; this was a curse! A curse that had somehow endured for centuries! Rumpelstiltskin obviously hadn't wanted to get rid of it, but she refused to believe that no one in that time had ever tried! Unless the curse didn't allow them to try. Where did a curse end and an infection begin? She closed her book and set it aside, ignoring the growing pain in her arms at her every little motion. There was no point in looking anymore. She was done. Whether or not Regina liked it, their eyes were as open as they were going to get. They just had to hope and believe that Merlin would do what was best.

"Taking a break?" she asked as Henry finally tottered over and sat next to her on the stairs. He was breathing heavily, and sweat was glistening by his hairline, but he was smiling. It was good to see him smile again after his heartbreak and especially after what happened with Emma this morning. Suddenly she was grateful that he had been upstairs and only seen the aftermath. The main event might have devastated him.

"He wears me out," Henry explained. "Do all kids have this much energy?"

"Every last one," Granny answered. "And they always want to play with the big kids, so get used to it kid, you've got a few more to get through!" she exclaimed motioning to little Neal in her arms.

She smiled. "Maybe by then he'll want to play with Roland and give you a break."

"Let's hope," Henry smiled back.

"Henry! Come play!" Roland shouted holding up his grey ball.

"Maybe later!" he called. "See how high you can get it to bounce."

Roland shrugged unhappily but immediately turned his attention to bouncing the ball against the ground and raising dirt clouds as he did. A few seconds later he was so enraptured by his task he'd completely forgotten Henry. "You're good with him you know," she smirked bumping into Henry's shoulder playfully. He blushed as he smiled and pulled something out of his pocket. A newspaper…and a pen? She took a closer look at it and found…real estate? Odd choice for a young boy. "Looking for a castle in Storybooke?"

"Well…kinda…it's sort of a secret, a surprise for my mom from me and Killian."

"A house?"

"For all of us," Henry confirmed as his eyes scanned the page. For all of them. For Henry and Emma…and Hook. They were planning on moving in together.

Her heart hurt. It ached for Neal. She knew how much he had wanted that to be him, to settle down with Emma and Henry and make their family complete again! It was a dream she'd wanted so much for him she didn't know how much it had lived on after he died until this moment. But Neal was gone. And while she knew that he'd wanted that spot next to Emma and Henry, he'd wanted their happiness more. If Neal wasn't there and Killian was…well, he certainly wouldn't be happy about it, but he'd be happy for them, that they were moving on.

"That's good, Henry," she managed to choke out. "Your dad, he'd…he'd think it was good."

Henry paused. He hadn't exactly been moving before, but the stillness that came over him in that moment…she'd startled him. "You think so?" he asked quietly.

It was the same old story, exactly what she'd felt with Rumple while they'd been married. She'd been so afraid, so careful not to talk to him about Neal because it just wasn't fair! These were the people who should have memories of Neal, who should have known him inside and out and had been stripped of that opportunity. Talking about it felt like she was rubbing their noses in the fact that she'd had more time than they had. But…but not talking about it felt wrong too. She felt like not talking about it forced her to keep Neal to herself, not to share him and all he'd done for her. Mourning was hard on anyone, but ignoring it as she had been for the sake of Rumple and even Henry…it was harder. Harder than necessary. And she knew Neal well enough to know that he wouldn't want that either.

"He loved you and your mother," she muttered beside him, rubbing her hands on her legs, anything to find something to do with her fingers. "He loved you both so much, all he wanted when we were in the Enchanted Forest was to get back to you and know you were happy. The memories came second for him; your happiness was his first concern."

Henry was quiet as he stared at the ground in front of him. She felt a knot rise in her throat and felt a wave of guilt that suggested she might have just done the wrong thing pass over her. Why did this have to be so hard?

"You remind me of him a little, you know," she suggested in the silence. Her guilt, she felt it, she knew it was real, but silence had never once taken care of it. Maybe, if she fought through it and said her peace, that was the key to getting rid of it. She'd never know until she tried. And Henry...

"I do?" he finally asked softly. "How?"

She smiled as the images flashed before her. "You have his smile," she pointed out. "And the ability to play with children! Roland liked your father too."

"They knew each other?!"

She nodded remembering how Neal had picked Roland up and called him "buddy" when he saw him again. "And you talk like him too, sometimes. Your humor and the way you see life, the way you treat others…you get that from him."

Henry was quiet for a while. He stared down at his pen and paper and there was only one small sniffle to give away how upset he was. She felt guilty for that. But then…

"I wish I could have known him better. I wish he was here, now."

"He wished that too, Henry." Maybe Henry had needed this talk more than she knew. Maybe he needed the memories she had, the stories she could tell. Maybe Rumple had needed this too.

"What would he have said about…about Violet…about what happened between us?" Maybe she needed it too. She felt guilty for making Henry sad, but her guilt lifted a little more with every word. And the more she spoke, every word she said to him…somehow she felt like she could breathe better than she had in a long time.

"He'd have wanted to meet her," she answered. "And teased you mercilessly of course, but…he'd also tell you…he'd tell you that every relationship is different Henry and every relationship goes through its phases. Me and Rumple, your mom and dad, even your dad and Tamara for the little it's worth. He'd tell you not to give up because what you feel today and what she feels today might not be the same as tomorrow. And if you think the relationship is worth it then…then it's worth it in any measure. Whether you're friends or something more."

"That doesn't sound like my dad…that sounds like you."

She smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm paraphrasing. He didn't speak with half the eloquence I have." She and Henry bumped shoulders again as they laughed and for a moment she felt tears well up in her eyes and something wrap around her heart because if she was honest with herself, it felt like it had long ago. It felt like it had with Neal, inside their little cabin, having dinner together or sewing a glove, sitting by a fire and trying to sleep or laughing at their love lives. It felt like he was more here now than he had been for a long, long time. She didn't know she could get that feeling back with a conversation.

"Hey…do you…do you think this is going to work?" he asked suddenly. "I don't know what they're planning, but I know they're trying to help my mom. Do you think it'll work, or do you think she'll turn out like…like…"

"Rumpelstiltskin?" she inserted sadly.

He nodded slowly, probably as afraid to talk about it as she had been afraid to talk about Neal. He was probably justified in that fear. Their separation and future weren't easy to talk about as adults, with Henry it was…still something that needed to be discussed. Just as Neal had.

"I don't know," she concluded. "I don't know what she'll be like if it doesn't work, but I know that she'll need you and your support."

"Like Grandpa needs yours?"

Exactly.

The word was right there on her lips. Her mouth was open and everything! But it just didn't come out. Why couldn't she say it?!

"It wasn't that bad," Henry went on. "Grandpa loved you and did good things with it and the curse, so maybe if they can't fix my mom there will still be hope."

What would she give to go back in time and have that kind of faith again? She'd had it once. She knew that she had because she'd so often found herself feeling stupid for having it! For believing that her love could break a curse or help the Dark One be good. She'd kept her eyes closed then, and she'd suffered a great deal for it now. But she also knew that she'd loved a great deal because of that belief. She'd felt things that she would never have felt before if it weren't for Rumple and their love. Not the Dark One. Rumple. So if she could go back and do it all over again, if she could run into herself after talking to Regina on the road what would she do, what would she tell herself? Go back and kiss him? Run away? What was she supposed to tell her Grandson, whose future was unwritten? It could go either way for him. Emma could do great damage with her curse, but she also knew that no one would ever love Henry the same way that Emma could, not exactly. Their love was special and unique. Should he close his eyes and walk on? Or protect himself.

"Have faith, Henry," she murmured quietly next to him. "Always have faith in the love that you have, no matter what."

It was the only answer she could think to give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it's the last ten chapters of Moments Taken and we are off to a good start with a very deep Belle/Henry chapter, or at least that's what I like to think about it. I hope that you've enjoyed these conversations. Henry and Belle will have a lot of interactions in the next few chapters. Don't worry; I gave her stuff to do while everyone else is out rescuing the world because Belle is not one that I see idly sitting around doing nothing at a time like this. I hope you'll like what I did with it.
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay for your comments on the last chapter. Nine more chapters until Moments Clear and Unclear starts up and then the real Rumbelle drama begins (because we haven't had enough of that in Moments Taken). Let's start to get some conclusions going (you know, so that all those conclusions can be forgotten and undone for the start of MC&U because what's a season of ONCE without a little amnesia)! Peace and Happy Reading!


	50. An Opportunity For Forgiveness

"Did you find me something?!" she glanced up when Granny called out and saw Lancelot and the dwarves had returned. Suspended from his hand upside down she could easily see two pheasants. And she could just as easily see Henry's face fall when he saw the birds. She'd have to buy him a nice hamburger when they got back to Storybrooke.

"Well at least we've got protein," Granny said unimpressed as she looked at the birds.

"Don't forget us now," Leroy grumbled. Each dwarf had a burlap sack with them that was certainly stuffed full of something. It was the only explanation for the strain on the bags, but what it was she couldn't tell from where she sat. So she set her bell jar aside and moved to Granny's side. She took Neal out of her arms as she examined their contents. "Apples, carrots, cabbage…not much but it's something at least."

"Don't forget mine!" Happy insisted pushing his bag forward and opening it for her. Berries. Red, blue, and purple berries that were beginning to stain the bag. A smile threatened to erupt on Granny's face.

"Looks like stew for dinner and pie for dessert. Hey, Henry, come help me with these!" she hollered. Tired from hours of play with Roland Henry eagerly raced forward and took the sacks to help Granny back inside. Pie. That would be something he'd probably enjoy eating. How Granny was planning on baking it was another story when their electricity had already run down but then again Granny had been baking pies without electricity much longer than she'd been baking them with electricity. She wasn't particularly worried. About Granny at least. About herself and Rumpelstiltskin…she honestly didn't know what to think about that.

Have faith. Always have faith in the love that you have, no matter what. She knew that she'd told Henry that, but did she really believe it?!

There was a time that she had believed it; there was a time that she'd believed nothing else mattered because she knew that she loved him and he loved her but then so much had gotten in the way! He'd put so much in between them!

And then she had too.

She'd put entire towns between them and more importantly she'd put one very small, very big, bright orange line between them.

She'd been angry. Understandably angry. She still didn't see any other alternatives to what had happened that night at the town line, she'd been protecting Henry, it was the promise that she'd made to Neal…but she also couldn't ignore the fact that she'd been protecting herself too in a very big way. Perhaps in too big of a way.

What had happened had happened, what would happen when she got back...

She held Neal secure on her lap and glanced at the bell jar next to her. She didn't know what would happen when she got back. There wasn't an option that she could come up with that she liked, there wasn't an option that wasn't terrifying and difficult all at the same time. There wasn't an option that promised her happiness, or one that protected her heart from turmoil and ever feeling what she had that night at the town line again. He wasn't the Dark One anymore, that was true, but the question still remained, how much of what he'd done had been the Dark One and how much had been Rumpelstiltskin. He wasn't dead, he still had hundreds of years of knowledge and cunning and secrets locked up inside of his head. How dangerous was he now? Did she even know who he was anymore? Did she know who she was?

Always have faith in the love you have. If only it was that simple. She knew that she loved him and that he loved her, that was something she knew that she couldn't outrun. But their love wasn't what had caused her faithlessness. It was him.

"You seem troubled."

She glanced up some time later to find Lancelot by her side, back where she sat huddled on the steps with Neal and her rose by her side. Troubled was one way to put it she supposed. Endlessly confused and uselessly confounded was another way. And if it was Robin or Mary Margaret or even Merlin asking she might have admitted that. But she didn't know Lancelot. He was just as much a stranger to her as Merida had been and she didn't want to think about what happened the last time she talked to a stranger. Usually it ended up with her being kidnapped. For better or worse sometimes, but kidnapped all the same.

"Everything's fine," she lied. "I'm a little tired but who isn't."

"From your journey," he assumed. "I hope Merida made it home alright."

"You knew her well?!" she gawked.

"Our cells were across from each other. We had little in common but our dislike of Arthur but we had all the time in the world to talk. I liked her. She had spunk."

Spunk. Fire. Confidence. All good words. All good words she'd love to have for herself.

"She did make it home alright, didn't she?" Lancelot pushed.

"Oh! Yes, I'm sorry, yes of course she did," she recalled, remembering she'd told almost no one of their trip and if Lancelot really was a friend then he'd be concerned. Concerned about someone besides himself, something maybe she needed to learn to do a little bit better. "She rescued her brothers, defeated the warriors, unified the clans, and took her crown back," she informed him happily. "Last I saw her she'd done everything she'd intended to do."

Lancelot smiled. "Good. She deserves it! We all deserve it."

She nodded and though she knew that he was prompting her to talk about what was so "troubling" she ignored it and focused on something else. "King of Camelot…do you think you're ready?" she questioned.

"Only with the right leader by my side," he corrected. "I believe it's Guinevere who is meant to rule the people. She is the heart and soul of this land. I believe that together we'll make an excellent pair."

Her head was spinning. Was it really only a week ago that Mary Margaret and David had spoken of Guinevere being under the same spell they had been? Had it really only been a week ago Mary Margaret declared to them that Lancelot loved Guinevere? It seemed longer. And now that she thought of it…was it really true? They may have been certain about the dust, but could they be certain about the love?

"Mary Margaret thinks the two of you are in love," she suggested as gently as possible, knowing full well it was nearly impossible for a suggestion like that to be "gentle". Still, the look on Lancelot's face gave her the answer without words. Yes, he was certainly in love with her, but was that love reciprocated? "Does she know how you feel about her?"

"We both feel the same," he admitted, glancing out at Roland who was forcing the dwarves to play a game of kick-the-ball with him. "It wasn't always like this," he said almost wistfully. "There was a time things were perfect. Arthur and I were friends, he and Guinevere were in love, he established Camelot, he was the King that they deserved…and then he found Excalibur. It all changed the moment he pulled the sword from the rock and saw it was broken in two. He didn't see what he'd done without the sword and couldn't see what he could do with half of it. He neglected Camelot, neglected the Knights of the Round Table, and neglected his wife in ways no man should all for the other half of that blade."

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. A story like that sounded familiar.

"But Guinevere was loyal until the end. She decided to use a magical item, something called the Gauntlet to find the other half of the sword with the hopes that with it, she'd get her husband back and Camelot would get it's king. I went with her because I didn't want her to go on her own." She hung on every word. The Gauntlet. The dagger. Rumple's trip to Camelot that got cut short. Suddenly she knew what he'd gone to do.

"Did you find it? The dagger, I mean, did you find it?"

"We did. In the vault of the Dark One, but it was guarded by the Dark One already and he wouldn't let us take it."

That sounded right. "What did he give you for the Gauntlet?" she questioned quietly, almost afraid of the answer. That stupid Gauntlet, the one that had led them to the town line months ago. She hoped it was worth all the trouble it had caused…but she also feared that it was.

"How did you know?" Lancelot questioned, moving away from her suddenly and looking at her like…like it was years ago. He looked at her like all of Storybrooke first had when she'd been freed from her prison and openly dated him. He looked at her like he didn't know what to make of it all. The truth was, these days, she didn't even know what to make of it all.

"We're…he's…"

"Oh, I know that face," Lancelot commented taking a step closer once more, a small smirk on his face.

"You do?"

He nodded. "You love him just as I love her." She opened her mouth to deny it. Or to at least tell him she wasn't sure, but…

"I do," she admitted, holding back tears. It was the first time she'd openly admitted it and it felt…she didn't know how it felt. There were too many emotions for her to be feeling just one thing. It was true; she knew it was true! She loved him. She still loved him! It was what to do with that love that confused her. "And I know he came home with the Gauntlet after a trip to Camelot years ago and that he never would have given you that dagger, which means he made a deal with you. For what?"

"Sand," Lancelot answered. "The very same sand, that according to your friends here, is currently holding her and all of Camelot prisoner to Arthur."

She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Of course they'd gotten that from him. All roads led to Rumpelstiltskin, curse or not! "I'm sorry," she apologized.

"For what?"

"For him, for his inability to think about anyone but himself."

"I don't blame him for this," Lancelot explained. She looked up expected to find him looking sympathetic or perhaps sarcastic but the expression on his face was serious. That was...odd. Most people blamed Rumple...but not Lancelot? "The Dark One has done a great many things to deserve blame, but this isn't one of them. Arthur and his hunt for the other half of the sword changed him so much I doubt he'd have ever recovered enough to be the King Camelot needed even if he found it. The Dark One isn't responsible for this mess. Arthur is. And he will never be the person Merlin thought he would be until he takes responsibility for his actions."

"You'd…you'd let him be king again if he took responsibility for what he's done? If he asked forgiveness."

Lancelot smiled and shook his head. "Well, I doubt he'll ever be King again, but…it's impossible to know what's in a person's heart until you know them. If Arthur wants forgiveness, if he wishes to turn his life around and be a contributing member of society, then how can he prove it if we don't give him that opportunity. A long time ago Arthur chose a path because he believed that it was what Merlin wanted. He was wrong, but there are still a million ways that Merlin's prophecy could be right when it comes to him. He deserves to be stripped of his power, but he also deserves to see what he can do when he doesn't have it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing! Honestly...I don't know where this conversation came from. I started to write the one for Henry and Belle and at some point I knew that I needed to send Henry and Granny inside for when Emma returned to the diner, but I was surprised to find that Lancelot had a conversation with Belle and that the conversation actually went somewhere meaningful! So...what do ya'll think? I'm a little nervous. This is the only chapter I wrote for Lancelot, so I hope that I got his character all right, but I don't really know. Your thoughts?
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for the lovely comments that you left on the last chapter and that you've been leaving! I'm thrilled someone is enjoying this story! Peace and Happy Reading!


	51. Bad and Bad Makes Deadly

She was feeling uncomfortable again. Probably because what Lancelot had just said struck too close to home once more. Arthur could never be what Merlin wanted him to be until he took responsibility for his actions. The same could be said about Rumpelstiltskin.

She'd thought it herself, what if he woke up and was a different person? What if he understood the error of his ways? What if he wanted one more chance to prove himself to her? Could she give that to him? Could she give the man a chance without the beast if he took responsibility?

"What if…what if Arthur-"

"Everybody inside!" she turned to look over her shoulder and found Granny at the door with her crossbow.

"Granny?"

"Emma's back."

She didn't wait for further explanation. She called for Roland, the dwarves helped her pick up her books and bell jar since her hands were full of Neal, and they all went into the diner together. The first thing she noticed was that Granny tested the door it to be sure it automatically locked behind her.

She was locking down the diner? That wasn't part of the plan! But when she got inside and first looked at Emma, she realized that perhaps the situation a was a little more problematic than she'd initially prepared for.

Emma was there, in the diner alone, staring with wide eyes at her-no, not her. She was just looking into space, the empty air. "Emma..." she muttered cautiously, making sure Roland was behind her and locating Henry at the front door. "Is everything alright?"

The girl gave a small, barely visible, shake of her head. No.

"Mom, what's wrong? What happened?" Henry asked, coming up and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I just had a very bad conversation," she mumbled, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

A conversation. She looked around the room. Henry and Granny had been here, but Granny had gone to get them and the way that Henry was looking at her, she had the feeling that she hadn't spoken with him. Was this a conversation like she'd had this morning? With no one but the air? That wasn't a good thing, especially if Killian or Regina, or Mary Margaret and David, or anyone for that matter, who could help ground her was not around.

"Emma…who was the conversation with? Was it…was it you?"

She shook her head again. "No…it was Merlin."

Merlin. She glanced around but now she was certain, the wizard wasn't with them. But he had gone with Emma. Where was he now? Outside? "Mom, you just said Merlin didn't come back with you."

"He didn't. Arthur has him."

She'd heard enough. Actually, she'd heard far from enough, but she'd heard enough to know that something was wrong, and this was not a good place for the children. "Leroy, Happy, Doc, can you take the boys upstairs?" she questioned setting Neal in Doc's arms without bothering to wait for an answer.

"I'm going to check the perimeter," Lancelot added.

"I'll go with you," Granny volunteered. That was probably a smart thing to do. Given what had happened this morning and that they were left with no one who was capable of producing safe magic at the drop of a hat, it was better to give Emma space. Her and Henry. It was up to them to get the information they needed.

"Emma why don't you sit down."

"No, there's no time…I've failed."

"Mom!"

"Emma! Look at me! You haven't failed yet! Just tell us what happened! Where is Merlin?!"

By applying pressure to her arms in just the right way she was able to steer Emma back to a booth and sit her down on the bench. That was the first time she noticed that she had something with her. She couldn't get a clear view of it but whatever it was, she kept it close to her, clutched so tight against her that the knuckles she had around it were white. It looked like a small metal chest, similar to an old weathered jewelry box she'd owned as a child. "Emma…" she moved to take it from her, but Emma only jerked it away from her, impossibly close to her chest!

"Mom…mom is that-"

"The spark of Prometheus, yes. And I have to turn it into a flame in an hour and save them, save all of them, how can I make it a flame, it's barely even a spark! It's just an ember! How do I get an ember to burn?!"

"Mom!"

"Emma, slow down!" she insisted. "Start from the beginning and tell us what's happening? When did you talk to Merlin? Where is he?"

"Gone," she answered, her eyes still glazed over. Her voice was low and oddly without tone or emotion despite the fact that she could see the panic in the rest of her body. It was chilling. "The plan failed. The others, Mom and Dad and Hook and Regina, all of them have been captured by Arthur."

She felt her heart begin to race. Captured by Arthur. She believed her instantly because she knew that Emma wouldn't make something like that up even in the worst of her delusions, but there was still something that was utterly unsettling. "How do you know that?"

"Merlin told me."

"Mom, I thought you said he disappeared."

"He did, and now I know why. Arthur…he bound Merlin to the other half of Excalibur just like I'm bound to the dagger."

She glanced over and Henry met her gaze. He looked just as surprised and terrified as she suspected she looked. The others captured by Arthur was bad. Merlin being bound to Excalibur was bad. Arthur holding their family and the sword captive…that was worse than bad. It was worse than worse. It was deadly.

"How could Arthur do that?" Henry asked. He wasn't bound to the sword when he left.

"He didn't say," Emma responded.

He didn't say. It was that same thing that just didn't make sense to her. If Merlin had disappeared how did Emma know all this?!

"Emma," she began as calmly as possible. She'd already tried to ask this twice, and Emma had launched off onto something else. She needed this answer! " _How_ did Merlin tell this to you? _When?_ "

"Just now," she answered. "He appeared when Granny tossed Henry the keys to lock the door."

She glanced over at Henry, who looked just as confused as she did. "Mom, there was no one in the room besides the three of us."

"He froze the two of you. He came to give me Arthur's deal."

"Arthur's deal? He's using Merlin as a messenger?"

Emma nodded and suddenly looked like she might burst into tears. "Arthur's got all of them in the Calcedon Forest, he wants Merlin to reforge Excalibur, and if I don't bring him the dagger and light the spark into a flame in an hour he's going to order Merlin to kill them and because he's tied to the dagger-"

"He'll have no choice," she finished for her when Emma's voice cracked uncharacteristically and she rocked forward just a bit, that little treasure box still clutched against her abdomen. She was panicking. Clearly panicking. And Henry…he was perfect. Calm and cool. In a strange twist, he was oddly parental as he put his hand on his mother's shoulder and told her that it would all be okay.

"We've just got to figure it out! You're the Savior, you can save them. I know you can!"

"There isn't enough time!" she choked. "The flame isn't even lit; he wants me to light it, and I don't think I can!" Now she was catching on. The Spark of Prometheus, the small box Emma held tight to her stomach, that must have been what it contained.

"Emma…Emma, may I?" she asked, this time, tapping the box and trying not to seem threatening. After a moment she nodded, her fingers uncurled, and she released it to her. The metal was hot. Not just warm, hot! She quickly set it up on the booth table beside her and glanced down to see Emma's hands weren't even red. She must have been using her magic to protect her. Did she know she'd been doing that?

It didn't matter. If she was going to help Emma turn the spark into a flame then she needed to see exactly what she was working with. Shielding her fingers with her dress, she flipped the lid up.

Emma's raving about it not being a spark…she'd been talking too fast then but now that she could see it for herself she discovered that she'd been right. It was nothing but an ember, like a piece of coal that she would have pulled out of a fireplace in the castle only…

No! It wasn't an ember. It resembled an ember but upon closer inspection, there was something different about it. It wasn't glowing in the way an ember should. There was something inside of it that was glowing, like a beating heart. Was that the spark?

"Where did you get this?" she breathed looking it over, wondering if she'd be able to find anything that would help Emma light it. Surely it was older than the dagger even! She didn't know if she could ever find something to work on magic that old without Merlin…who was currently under the control of a very angry, very evil man. Things just kept getting worse for them!

"She had it," Emma answered in a low voice. "It was inside of Nimue."

Nimue. Nimue?! Had she heard that correctly? It couldn't be! Nimue was the name of Merlin's lover, the one that the Dark One had taken from him. She should have been long dead by now! And why would the Dark One ever give her the spark knowing that she was as close to Merlin as she was?! If she ever got free…

"I'm-I'm sorry, did you say 'Nimue'?"

Emma nodded. "She was the first Dark One."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gasp! Nimue was the first Dark One! Who could have seen that coming?! I mean, aside from everyone the moment Merlin mention the Dark One destroyed the one he loved, and the Dark One was wearing a mask. Clearly, she was the first Dark One. But of course, we weren't supposed to know that until the big reveal and Belle didn't know until this moment either. Surprise! Mmm, I wonder what kind of conversations they'll have now...
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for your continued support and comments. I can't wait to hear what you think about this ending that I've got planned! Peace and Happy Reading!


	52. Stupid, Impulsive Assumptions

Nimue was the first Dark One.

Nimue was the original Dark One!

Nimue, the woman Merlin had loved! She hadn't been taken by the Dark One; she was the Dark One!

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't get passed the truth! How had she missed that?! Now that she knew it seemed so obvious!

After Emma had finally told them what happened and told them the true identity of Nimue, Henry sent Emma outside. He encouraged her to practice, to just try to think of a way out and turn the spark into a flame. It was hard for her. She understood that in Emma's mind there was no good way out of this. Either she defied Arthur and sacrificed her family or she obeyed Arthur and sacrificed herself. Still, Emma was the Savior. And out the window, Henry watched as she fiddled with the box and the ember inside of it. Practicing to no avail.

While Emma worked, she'd taken to her books. Originally she'd been trying to figure out the Prometheus Flame but nothing in the little content she had led her to any answer that was going to help and she ended up thumbing through Merlin's diary again. Her face flushed with red.

It really was obvious.

Not to just anyone, just her! Regina would have missed it. Robin would have missed it. Mary Margaret, David, even Emma would have missed it…but not her.

He never referred to the gender of the Dark One. Never. She stupidly assumed that whenever he referred to the Dark One he was a he! Or…she was a he! And the pain. It was so much clearer, so much more prominent, when she reread the journal knowing who Nimue was than when she'd originally translated it weeks ago. He never named the Dark One or called her Nimue. He separated himself from her. Tried to lessen the pain by only referring to her as The Dark One in the present. It was only in the memories he'd recalled that she became his Nimue again. It was never Nimue he'd set out against, just the Darkness inside that led him to do what he felt was necessary. Destroy her. He'd felt responsible and tried to destroy her…why did that sound familiar?

She closed her book and glanced out the window to try and hide her tears from Granny, Lancelot, and Henry.

He'd tried to protect the world the same way that she had. No, she would never have been able to kill Rumple, but she had rendered him harmless when she forced him over the town line. She'd survived that devastation in one piece, at least physically. Merlin obviously hadn't been as lucky, though now that she knew the truth she understood why she'd locked him in the tree.

She hadn't been able to harm him either. She hadn't been able to kill Merlin and save herself because she loved him. The best that she could do was change him into something harmless...just as she had her beast.

She wiped her eyes. How had she missed this? He'd told her! That night out by the well! She'd asked him what happened to Nimue, and he'd told her! " _The Dark One took her from me, much the same what the Dark One has held your Rumple captive for the last few centuries."_ She'd heard him. But she hadn't _heard_ him and ended up denying that it was the same when in reality it was exactly the same.

She was an idiot.

"What's eating you?" She glanced up to find Granny leering down at her by the booth.

She quickly wiped her eyes again and sat back in the booth. "Nothing," she excused.

Granny raised her eyebrows, and she knew that she didn't believe her. She opened her mouth, probably to declare her lie but-

"She's doing it again," Lancelot called looking out the window to where Emma was outside.

"What?" she questioned, jumping up eager to escape Granny and her suspicions. "What's she doing again?"

Her eyes swept over the grounds until she located Emma sitting on the log and it became all too clear what she was doing.

"She's talking to herself again."

"No…not to herself…" she concluded, watching her as she interacted with the air. She made small motions, her back was to them but she could see from the way she swayed and looked to the left that she was clearly having a conversation with someone or something.

"You think there's someone there?" Lancelot questioned.

"No, but I think that she's got more than one voice in her head. I don't know if it's a delusion or the personification of the darkness-"

"The personifiwhata?"

"-but no matter what it's not something she should be doing, giving into the Darkness and acknowledging it like that. You saw her this morning. It's not good for her."

"I can talk to her," Granny suggested.

"Actually…I think I have an idea," Henry stated grabbing the newspaper by his seat and hopping down.

"Henry!" she warned reaching out and grabbing his arm before he could leave. She didn't like that idea one bit. She'd seen what Emma could do only this morning when she got too stressed during these times! She wasn't about to let Henry-

"Don't worry," Henry smiled, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I got this. Trust me."

She felt tears fill her eyes because everything, from the tone in his voice, the words he'd used, even the touch and smile he'd freely given…it was Neal. Plain and simple. She'd trust him, she may as well trust Henry. So she blinked the tears out of her eyes and nodded. "Be careful," she whispered.

Henry opened the door and walked outside to his mother. She stayed right by the door. She'd trust him, but there wasn't a chance she wasn't going to watch their interaction like a hawk. It wasn't Henry's trust that was questionable right now.

He was nearly to her when Emma stood up and screamed "I'm trying!" so loud that she heard her loud and clear from the diner. Her heart raced and she had her hand on the door knob in a flash, ready to go outside and grab Henry when Lancelot placed his hand on her own and stopped her.

"No wait!" he said. "Look!" She glanced back outside to see that Emma wasn't talking to herself anymore, she wasn't even looking tense anymore, she was talking to Henry, and her shoulders were slumped forward in comfort.

Her heart was still racing, but she pulled her hand off the knob and continued to watch. Henry handed Emma the paper that he had been carrying. She watched as she looked it over and they exchanged a few words that she couldn't make out because Emma had lowered her tone. That was a good sign. And things seemed to be going well. Maybe Henry was the cure to-

Suddenly Emma handed the paper back to Henry and snapped the box shut. Her eyes were wide again, but not hazy with insanity as they were before. Now they were filled with something else. Recognition?

An idea.

What was she thinking?

She had her hand on the doorknob again. Lancelot tried to stop her once more but this time, she didn't listen. She shoved her way passed him and by the time she got out the door Emma already had advanced on Henry. She grabbed his hand and Henry twitched away from it for a moment before Emma's grip tightened. "Mom!"

"Let him go!" she yelled.

"It's alright!" Emma called out across the yard. "I'll be back soon!"

Emma was gone, enveloped in a flash of dark smoke one minute and gone the next. But Henry was still there. She hadn't taken him with her, she'd left him behind!

"Henry!" she cried running forward.

"Ah!" he gasped when she finally arrived. He glanced down at his hand and she noticed that he dropped something to the ground.

"Are you alright?!" she demanded, aware that the door behind her was banging open and closed again.

"I'm fine!" he insisted quickly. "I'm fine, it's just…hot!"

He held his hand up for her and she could see that it was red. The skin was irritated, but fortunately not burned too badly. Though it did need ice. Not that they'd find that out here! "What on earth…"

"The spark," Henry breathed, kicking some of the debris on the ground away to reveal what he'd dropped. It was the ember, the Spark of Prometheus!

"Where-where's it's box?" she asked finding some leaves and scooping it up so that it wouldn't burn her own skin. How much magic was Emma using? Did she even realize it was hot for them?!

"She took it with her," he answered. "She told me to protect it, to protect the diner."

She fought the urge to roll her eyes. Emma was always impulsive, but she was never stupid. This was stupid. How on earth were they supposed to protect the diner? There was no one magical here!

"I don't suppose she told you how we're expected to do that?" she demanded as Granny finally arrived and looked Henry's hand over.

"Get a pail of water from the well, a little butter, a little water, it'll be just fine!" she told Lancelot.

"She said you could do it," Henry answered, ignoring the old woman and knight. "She told me you could figure it out."

As Granny and Lancelot led Henry away to treat his hand, she sighed in disappointment and frustration.

Of course Emma assumed she could figure it out. Didn't everyone?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a short chapter and the next chapter is also very short. Sorry about that. I had them as one chapter in my mind but in the end, they didn't make sense to put them together, so I just separated them. The only consolation prize is that tomorrow's chapter is very rewarding if you like watching Belle do her magic thang. I don't know that I'd call it a Research!Belle chapter, it's more like a...I don't know...Wizard!Belle chapter. Eh, someone else come up with something clever.
> 
> Peace and Happy Reading!


	53. Her Gift of Magic

Emma expected her to figure out how to protect them? How?! With her expert vocabulary? Her ability to do mediocre research? Magic?! She had no magic! If she did she might be able to make a protection spell but with no magic at all...

Well…that wasn't entirely truthful. She had flower petals that she'd learned she could harvest magic from thanks to Merida. But she had no other ingredients to channel that magic.

Or did she…

Ingredients weren't magical, they were just common things that magic affected. But still, out here, in the middle of nowhere? What were the chances she could find something helpful?

When Granny finally ushered Henry back inside and she was able to safely set the ember down on the table she looked around the diner and her eyes landed on the pass through into the kitchen.

She had an idea!

"Granny, can you boil some water!"

"Why, you having a baby?"

"Making a spell!" she said going into the back and raiding the spices and foods among the shelves. What was the chance that she had everything she needed? Salt. Plums. Sugar. Metal shavings would be difficult…no it wouldn't! As Granny set to lighting the small fire pit she'd prepared for cooking in one of the deep sinks she found a tenderizer. It was metal. And heavy. Now she just needed…a spoon! Perfect!

"Hey!" Granny cried as she set it upon the cutting board and brought the hammer down onto it. It mangled mostly but a couple of pieces did break off of it.

"I'll replace it," she assured Granny as she put the shavings aside and hit the spoon again.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked suddenly appearing in the window.

"Making a protection spell, like the kind that we used to protect Storybrooke from John and Michael when you were in Neverland."

"Didn't you need fairy dust for that?" Granny clarified as she removed the pot of boiling water and found a small bowl.

"We've got it," she answered. "Henry get my rose!" she ordered as she found a teaspoon and dumped three teaspoons of salt into a bowl. "I looked this spell up while we were researching Zelena. It was the first spell I'd ever enacted purposefully, I wanted to know how it had been made so I learned. I'm going to make this a bit different though."

"That's awesome," Henry breathed over her shoulder as he watched her.

She nodded and found a broom. She handed it to Henry. "I need a hair from everyone in the shop now and any who came with us. Merlin, Emma, Killian, Mary Margaret and David. Sweep the floor and find them for us."

"I run a clean diner!" Granny argued.

"We've been sleeping here for weeks Granny, it's impossible we haven't left a bit of ourselves lying around. Can you get the others, one hair from everyone that we have here at the diner?" Granny reached into a drawer and grabbed a pair of scissors.

"Free haircuts for everyone...comin' right up!" she answered giving the air a little _snip, snip_.

"I just need one from everyone. Don't forget the baby!" she called out as Granny left the diner to go upstairs. "Lancelot!" she spun around and found him just behind her, watching silently from the side. She found a small cup, like the kind Granny probably served small orange juices in, and handed it to him. "I need a cup of dirt from outside."

Lancelot didn't say anything, just nodded, took the cup from her and disappeared out the back door. Henry and Granny kept busy and so did she. She squeezed the juice out of the plum and set it into it's own container. The shavings she also set aside in a smaller glass bowl. It must have looked like she was getting ready to bake brownies! She had nearly all the ingredients ready. Now for her own bit of flair. Not everyone was in the diner right now, they'd still have to come and go. The thing about a protection spell was that it had to be crafted either to protect everyone inside or keep certain people out. But she needed it to admit everyone who was here, her friends. Exceptions. She had to write her own spell. An exception to magic. Salt could be used for a number of different things in magic but it could also be used to block magic for these kinds of spells so that no matter what anyone hit their protection spell with it would still protect! The metal shavings represented strength; it told the spell to become a shield. Salt, metal, fairy dust, those were the essential elements to creating a protection potion. But the plum...plums were used to create openings in spells, a place to leave room for something more complicated. It would do what she needed it to.

From her belljar she pulled out a single petal. This was the difficult part. She needed the petal for two things. First for the petal itself, for the magic it possessed to make this mishmash of items an actual spell, she had no magic of her own, so she had to use the petal to infuse it with magic. And second, she needed it for the fairy dust. Her rose glittered. That hadn't escaped her notice and when she examined it closely her suspicions were confirmed. Fairy dust. Not a lot of it was on the petal, but she didn't need to hide the town of Storybrooke, just the diner. It would do. With the back of a knife she delicately scraped the little that was there off the petal and put it into its own separate bowl, then sliced just a bit of the rose petal off. She hid the rest within her jeweled belt, then added the bit of rose.

Instantly the water began to sizzle and hissed at her as grey smoke poured over the brim of the pot. Now she was ready to make a potion. So long as she had-

"One cup of dirt, as requested, milady!" Lancelot stated presenting her with the glass cup of dirt, soil, dead leafs, and she was pretty sure there was even a small rock in there. That was fine. Perfect in fact!

"I can't tell Mary Margaret from Hook," Henry told her bringing a dust pan over to her. That was a problem she hadn't expected. She could tell Merlin's short curling hair, short blonde from David, brown from Robin, long black from Regina, Emma's long golden hair, even a red one she took to be Zelena's which she added to her collection begrudgingly. But there were a lot of black hairs, hair that could have been Mary Margaret or Killian!

"Got you covered," Granny said wading over to her. "Mary Margaret used a comb this morning." She tried not to cringe as Granny set the dead hair into her hand, instead of holding it she just set it aside and hoped that at least one of the short black ones belonged to Killian, if not...she'd figure something out. She plucked a hair out of her own head then held out her hand for the three standing around her. They gave their donations and after a final count she declared that was everyone, even Roland and Neal.

She took a deep breath and dropped the salt in first, then the metal shavings, which instantly began to fizz and dissolve in the liquid. Then she picked up the cup of dirt and poured it into the pot. The potion began to glow a faint shade of purple. "Salt keeps magic out, metal makes it a protection spell, and the dirt tells it to protect the space from everyone who's feet have ever touched this realm."

"But we don't want to be protected from everyone," Henry noted. "What about my moms? What about Hook and my grandparents...Merlin?!"

She nodded and found the bowl with the slightly purple liquid. "Plum juice prepares the spell for something extra, it makes an opening," she explained as she poured it in. The white smoke became a deeper shade of purple, and she quickly pulled a jar of sugar off the shelf, grabbed a pinch, and tossed it into the potion. It flashed, just as she'd always read it should. "Sugar, something sweet, tells the spell there are friendlies to let into the spell. If I wanted to keep a particular person out I would have to add alcohol or lemon juice, something bitter to indicate an enemy and not an ally."

"So why not just set the spell against Arthur?" Lancelot questioned as she scooped the hairs into her hand.

"Because I have nothing of his," she explained. "And I can't make a potion against each individual in his army. This is better. Our hairs tell the spell we are the exception, we can freely come and go as we like." With that, she tossed the strands into the pot. They dissolved in the little bit of liquid in almost no time. That was good. Now for the moment of truth.

There was no time to wait for the potion to cool, she picked up the bowl of potion and picked up the small bit of Fairy dust and took them outside. She set the fairy dust down in front of the diner, felt along her belt for the rose petal, and held her breath. She just had to believe. It was easier when the spell was her own, but not any less nerve-wracking. She said a silent prayer and poured the liquid into the bowl containing the fairy dust.

It happened just like it did before, only less grand this time. The shoot of magic was tall and the bubble it created was great, but not nearly what it had been when she'd protected all of Storybrooke.

"Wow," Henry gawked glancing up and around at the transparent barrier. "You've got to teach me to do that."

She didn't have a response to that. Part of her wanted to tell Henry he was forbidden from every using magic like this, but it was hard to do when more and more of his family were capable of it. Apparently, that list included her now.

"We should all get back inside," she said instead, picking her bowls up. "It was big and bright and just because we're protected doesn't mean someone didn't see that."

Granny grabbed Henry and they turned to get back inside. Next to her Lancelot smiled. "I can see why Merida wanted you."

She felt her cheeks flush out of embarrassment. "I'm not as good as everyone thinks," she admitted.

"Not from where I'm standing," Lancelot added. "Thank you. You have a gift. I hope that someday you can embrace it."

She only shook her head and fingered her rose petal, the rose petal that she'd lost part of to do this spell. He didn't understand, embracing magic had never helped anyone that she knew of. It only caused heartache. Magic may have been the answer to short term problems, but it was also the cause of long term problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I did tell you not to get too excited for this chapter. It really is just filler. Not quite Research!Belle, but it certainly does show exactly what she's learned over the years. "But Treatian, this chapter makes no sense here! When the group gets back David and company goes out to check the perimeter as if there is no protection spell!" Yes, yes they do, but if you read carefully you might find that I made sure there was a reason for that. Did you find it?
> 
> Thank you, STweysoup and Deweymay, for the comments you left on the last chapter. Five chapters left. It's time to start wrapping it up so we can move on. Peace and Happy Reading!


	54. Reflections in an Unconventional Mirror

With the Protection Spell set, they waited inside. Henry went upstairs to check on the kids and the dwarves, Lancelot sat outside as guard, she and Granny cleaned up the kitchen. It was good. Cleaning was always cathartic to her. And if felt good to go through simple motions and not have to worry about anything like-

"They're back!" Lancelot suddenly poked his head inside and hollered not twenty minutes after she'd set the spell.

"That was fast," she muttered walking around the kitchen and out to the porch. But sure enough, they were there, walking perfectly through the barrier as if nothing had happened. In fact, if it weren't for the little way that Regina shivered and looked over her shoulder the moment they were on the property, she would've guessed she'd set it wrong. She'd done well, but they, on the other hand, looked like soldiers just back from war. David had his hands wrapped around Mary Margaret as they walked. Robin and Hook held Merlin, who looked oddly tired, like he could hardly walk, between the two of them. Emma led the way with the empty box in her hand and Regina brought up the rear…the sword was in her hand.

"You got it!" Henry breathed suddenly appearing beside her. "The sword, the dagger, and the spark! You got them all!"

"Only if you kept the spark safe for me," Emma responded smiling and sounding like her old self again.

"Inside," he answered. And so inside they went. Happy was waiting for them, pulling out chairs and tables for the sudden influx of people. Emma located the ember sitting ont eh table right away, like she was drawn to it, then opened the metal box she'd taken with her and scooped it back inside, like it was, quickly.

Regina set the sword on a table and looked around. "Put him here," she ordered motioning to a table and chairs the dwarves had just made available. Killian and Robin slowly lowered Merlin into a chair.

"What happened to him?" she questioned, taking a seat beside him and looking him over.

"He nearly killed me," Mary Margaret responded taking a seat with the pair of them.

"What?!"

"It wasn't intentional," Emma responded quickly. "Arthur ordered him to and he almost did, but he resisted, he didn't do it."

But she could see easily enough through his sad eyes, through the tears welling up in those sad eyes, that intentional or not it didn't seem to matter to him. "I am sorry," he choked out looking Mary Margaret in the eye. "Truly sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Mary Margaret assured him. It didn't seem to make much different to him. He was obviously not well, but somehow she knew his guilt was the greatest source of his pain.

"Where's Zelena?" Henry asked suddenly, breaking her gaze on Merlin she glanced up and looked around the room. He was right. Zelena wasn't with them.

"She's with Arthur," David answered, pulling the blinds down and looking out the window.

"She played us," Regina continued. "Arthur removed her shackle and she used her magic to bind Merlin to Excalibur. They got away after we got the sword."

So that was how this had happened. Zelena! She should have figured! And it got worse! Not only was her escape bad for them then but it was also bad for them now! "I put a protection spell around the diner but I gave her access," she admitted quickly. "I didn't know she wasn't with you. We're protected from Arthur, but if she can get in she might be able to lower the spell and let his army in!"

"I thought I felt magic on the way in," Regina commented.

David and Robin Hood exchanged glances. "I'll get Lancelot and check the woods."

"I'll go with you."

"So will I," Regina added after Robin Hood. And just like that the three of them were out of the room.

"We need to get home. Soon," Mary Margaret concluded beside her.

"Well, we can now. Can't we? Mom, you can light the spark now right? You don't need the Darkness anymore!" Henry questioned turning to Emma.

Emma smiled and looked down at the little box in her hand.

"How do I do it?" she asked glancing over at Merlin.

Merlin swallowed and took a deep breath that looked like it took more effort than he had. "Once the spark is aflame you need only to touch the dagger and Excalibur to the heat. The magic will do the rest."

Emma nodded, set the box down on the table and gazed into its depths. They all watched, they flat out stared at Emma as she looked at the ember inside the box and slowly the smile and confidence faded from Emma's face. Her eyes grew wide and wild again and she could see her concentration melt away into some other unknown thought. "Swan?" Killian questioned from his place at the counter.

Emma suddenly snapped the box closed. "I need some time," she said picking up the box and sword then going behind the counter. She retrieved the dagger quickly and turned to leave. "I'll be outside, I have to think!"

"Emma, do you want me to-"

"I need to be alone!" Emma responded without even looking back before she left the diner. Killian remained and he wasn't happy about it, if the look on his face was any indication. Henry had already moved on and was talking to Killian about what had happened like it was a great adventure he'd been on.

Great. They were so close to getting home. Now all they needed was Emma. And she was probably the least stable of them and that included Zelena, a fact that was hardly encouraging.

Next to her she could see Mary Margaret itching to get up and go to her daughter. But she also stayed where she was, her gaze sweeping over Merlin. She was going to talk to him about it, ask him about Emma and what she could do but she could see that was the last thing that Merlin needed at the moment.

"Are you feeling alright?" she whispered before Mary Margaret could say anything. "Do you need anything?"

Merlin shook his head. "The rest is enough. I'm afraid I won't be of much use for the next few days. I am sorry," Merlin said suddenly turning to Mary Margaret. "If I could do anything to help your daughter now I would. But I am afraid that now it is something only she can do."

Mary Margaret swallowed hard but eventually nodded sadly.

"It'll be for the best," he concluded. "if I lit the flame for her I'm afraid it would do no good, If Emma can't light the spark then it means she's not ready to give up the darkness and Exaclibur would do little good as long as she's still holding on it."

That made sense. If Emma couldn't light it and Merlin did then it wouldn't make a difference. It had to be Emma. Only Emma.

She sighed in the quiet between them, Killian's voice as he told Henry about what they'd done played in the background but it was next to nothing when she remembered the short story Emma had told her earlier. She fought back the urge to drop her jaw again as she only thought about it! It was so…outstanding? Odd? Miraculous?

Confusing. And yet understandable all at the same time.

"Emma told me about Nimue," she sighed, reaching for his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't understand when you tried to tell me before."

Merlin looked up at her and for that moment she was seeing him clearly, without the amusement in his smile or a twinkle in his eyes. It was fate. He was her. "We build walls, we dig deep valleys inside of our hearts to keep others out, to protect our secrets. There is no need for apologies. You understood what I wanted you to understand, but that didn't make it the truth."

She opened her mouth to say something but wasn't sure what to say. He was her and she was him. And she knew that his view of the truth was right. She knew what he'd wanted her to know. What did she want to know about herself?

"Merlin-"

The door to the diner flew open before she could get another word out and Henry and Killian's laughter died quickly as David, Regina, and Robin strode back in. "Well the woods are clear," David insisted quickly. "Zelena and Arthur must have retreated somewhere far from here."

So her wards had held. That was good. Though not knowing exactly where they were was hardly settling. Zelena and Arthur weren't here now, didn't mean they were going to be in a few minutes! But Lancelot was missing again, maybe he was still investigating. That was the best they could do considering they couldn't move the diner again as Merlin had last time, though she could already sense they wanted to ask.

"Well I'm afraid Merlin won't be much help," she defended before they could ask. "Resisting Excalibur's taken its toll on him." Unless Regina wanted to try, they had no magic other than her poor excuse for it.

"And Emma?" Regina questioned taking a glance around. "How's she doing with the spark?"

"Oh, when she said she needed some time alone she took it outside," Mary Margaret answered.

Regina nodded and sighed. "I'll go check on her."

"She said she wanted to be alone," Killian argued.

"Too bad," Regina called over her shoulder as she left.

"Bloody hell," Killian fought. She ignored him as he got up and went to the window to watch just as she had when Henry had gone outside to talk to Emma only hours ago. Hours. It had been a long day.

"Well at least there is one good thing about all this," David responded coming over and putting his hand on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "We have everything we need. We can go home."

"We can't," she replied. "We need Zelena to open the portal and…we haven't won Camelot back for Merlin yet. We haven't fulfilled our part of the deal."

Merlin smiled. "You freed me from my prison, I can't ask you more than that. When my magic is restored again I can open the portal to send you home."

"We can't-"

"You should get back to your beast, Belle," Merlin inserted quickly. "It's where you belong."

"We're not leaving without Zelena," Robin Hood insisted from his place by the window. "I won't leave my child to the mercy of her parenting…"

It sparked a conversation in the room about how they had forgotten and how they could make a plan to retrieve her for him despite the fact that it seemed impossible. She didn't hear the conversation. She couldn't. All she'd heard was what Merlin had said. His eyes remained locked on her own through all the noise as if he knew they were having a conversation without words. She should go home? To Rumple? He really thought so!

"You think I should go back to him?" she muttered, looking him in the eye.

"Only you know what's best for you," he answered mysteriously again. But this time she was ready for it, because she understood what she hadn't before. He hadn't given his opinion before, but she hadn't asked the right questions before either.

"If it was Nimue…if she no longer carried the darkness but everything else remained, everything she'd done to you, to Camelot, everything she'd chosen…what would be the right choice for you? Would you go back to her? Could you?"

"I'd be by her side in an instant," he responded without hesitation. "It wouldn't be easy, but you can't fix something if you don't work on it, it'll just remain broken forever and that could be deadly for anyone who touches it. The teacup may always have chips, but at least it'll still good for holding tea."

She shouldn't have been surprised at what he'd said, at the knowledge he'd had, not after all of this. But it did leave her jaw hanging open in shock before she forced it shut and chuckled. "You know…for someone who spent the last few hundred years in a tree, your oddly well versed in world affairs."

"Kind of puts a Mirror imbued with Dark Magic to shame, doesn't it?"

She laughed and shook her head at his joke. If only-

"What's Regina doing?" Killian questioned suddenly.

"What? What do you see?" David questioned as he and Mary Margaret moved to the window.

"She's got the dagger!" Killian shouted. The three of them were out of the diner before she really knew what was happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now they can finally have a halfway decent conversation about the Darkness. Now she knows the questions she has to ask. Now Merlin finally lets his guard down and states his opinion. About freakin' time! Now we can get somewhere. And after we get somewhere...we're going back to nowhere, remember this is Once Upon a Time, and no one ever remembers anything until the end. So enjoy it while you can.
> 
> Four more chapters left until MC&U. Everyone ready? Peace and Happy Reading!


	55. Pride Before the Fall

Regina and the Charmings returned to the diner not long after Killian declared what had happened and an argument broke out almost instantly. Apparently, Regina had taken the dagger from Emma and tried to use it on her to figure out what was causing her hesitation to light the spark and make the sword one again.

"She needs to break through whatever wall is holding her back!"

"Using the dagger was wrong Regina," Mary Margaret argued quickly.

"We are running out of time! This isn't a Nicholas Sparks novel; we don't have time for character development!"

"Can you all keep it down?"

Every head in the diner turned to look toward the kitchen at Doc, who had suddenly appeared there.

"The baby is trying to sleep," he pointed out as his face turned red. It was stupid the way a small comment like that could throw them all off and make her take stock of her life. Keeping their voices down was such a normal thing that comment felt like it didn't even belong in this room, where daggers and magic and ancient wizards were the topic of conversation.

"Look…I'm sorry I pushed her the way I did, but I'm not sorry I pushed," Regina inserted with a calm voice. "The key to all of us getting Camelot back and going home is getting Emma back to being the Savior again, unaffected by Dark Magic. We've already been here six weeks; we can't afford to waste any more time! Every day she's like this it'll get harder to resist it. We need to go home!"

From behind Doc, a noise made nearly all of them jump. It was the back door opening. Emma and Killian stepped back inside, and every eye was on her once again. She hadn't even been aware they were coming back inside, she'd been too absorbed in the conversation to keep an eye on them outside, but what she saw seemed hopeful. It was a smile on Emma's face. She looked at her parents, and Regina then stepped forward and handed the box to Merlin. He didn't wince at the heat that she had felt coming off of it before, she could only imagine that was a good sign. He must have been getting some of his magic back.

"I can do it now," Emma breathed without hesitation.

Merlin looked at her with wide and amazed eyes, and she felt that maybe, just for the smallest flash, the mask of the great wizard was dropped, and they were seeing the man he must once have been. But then he rose with confidence and walked around the table. He opened the box but then looked up at Emma in a challenging way. "Are you sure you can light it?"

Emma looked over at Killian and smiled, she reached over and took the sword and dagger that he was holding and set them before her on the table. "I already have." Her voice was normal again. Light and warm all at once, not even the faintest hint of anger or icy demeanor seemed left. She felt her stomach tighten. She was one step closer to getting home to Rumple.

Merlin nodded and closed the box again. "If you can get the spark lit again all you'll need to do is touch the dagger and sword to what you create, let the magic speak to you, that'll be enough."

Emma nodded, and it was already like she was a new person. There wasn't a hint of doubt in her eyes. She knew she could do what she needed to do. It was a change from the girl she'd seen storm out of the diner only a few moments ago.

"And what about the Darkness?" Merlin questioned further. "Can you give it up? Are you ready?"

"Yes," she answered without hesitation. Merlin paused for a moment, then she saw the beginnings of a smile curve at his mouth, not amusement as she'd seen before, this is different. It was a teacher looking at a student.

"Then it's time to destroy the darkness, once and for all!" Merlin concluded stepping forward to pop the little box open before Emma. He never once released her gaze.

But Emma didn't falter, didn't panic, or begin to talk to herself. She looked up at Killian, gave him slightly more than a passing glance but nevertheless blushed as she did. She looked over at Killian and saw an admiring smirk on his face. She couldn't wait to get home and see a smirk like that again.

Her thought nearly stole her breath from her, and she had to wrap her arms around her stomach to keep herself from gasping. Had she really just had that thought? Yes, she had. But that wasn't what shocked her about it. The feeling that the thought had left in her belly, the feeling she had spreading throughout her…it was fleeting but good. It felt good to think that thought. It felt good to think about that image. It failed when she thought too hard about it, when she considered everything that had happened and everything that she had to work on, but for this moment she pushed those thoughts away from her and focused on his image in her head. The image where he smirked at her just as Killian was doing right now at Emma and let the feeling of happiness consume her all over again. Yesterday morning with Merida she'd been so hesitant about what would happen when she arrived back home, suddenly she couldn't get there fast enough.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emma's motions distracted her and brought her back to reality, back to what was important. They weren't home yet. Emma was trying to light the spark.

"Trying" wasn't an accurate word. "Trying" suggested it was a challenge, but considering it had once been a difficult task, it was shocking to her to see that it barely took any effort on Emma's part now. With just a wave of her hand the ember didn't just spark, it burst into flame. She used her hands and played with the little ball of fire like it was made of rubber, suspending it in mid-air before her. Then, she imagined, it was just a matter of letting her instincts take over, just as Merlin had said.

Emma reached out, held the flame between her hands, then clamped her hands around it. She held on tight but still the places between her fingers glowed with light and heat and then when Emma released the flame she saw that it was more than a flame. It was something so hot, so magical, it couldn't be called a flame, not anymore. It was more like a sword forge she'd seen once as a child, but without the excessive fire or coal or anything that resembled a forge. It was pure energy and fire perfectly contained. Like the sun or a star.

It was beautiful.

And Emma didn't stop to admire it. As she suspended the ball of energy in the air, she reached forward and grabbed the dagger in one hand and the sword in the other. She still looked determined, but she did test the waters at first by touching each of the metals to the ball a little timidly as if to see what they would do. She looked them over one final time, apparently satisfied with what was happening then moved to touch them both to the small ball of magic.

This was it! This was exactly what they'd come for. Their plan had actually worked!

"Bloody hell," she heard Killian breathe next to her. She couldn't blame him; it wasn't just a beautiful sight before them, it was a happy moment, and she couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was too-

"Hook, what's wrong?" she heard David ask from across the table.

Hook? Wrong?

She tore her eyes off the ball of energy and glanced over to Killian, who was itching and rubbing his neck as if a bug was there. She caught a glimpse of the skin between his fingers, and it did look a bit red. And was growing redder by the second. A rash? No! It was worse than that! The red was deeper and darker than that. It looked like-

"He's bleeding!" Mary Margaret exclaimed as she saw blood begin to seep through his fingers.

Inside of her, Lacey blanched and moved away, wondering what the hell was happening, the pirate hadn't had a scratch on him a moment ago, and now he was spurting blood from his jugular?!

But before she could collect herself and react rationally or do anything to help him, he staggered forward and collapsed against the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, short chapter, but it was going to be too long if I added the next chapter into it and this seemed like a natural breaking point. The next chapter is longer but almost equally as predictable as this one, it will be the last of the "seen" stuff from Camelot. That's right; we're finally at that place ya'll!
> 
> Thank you, Deweymay, for all the wonderful support and comments, the awesome conversations and encouraging notes ya'll have given me throughout this process! Stick around; I can't wait to share MC&U with you! Peace and Happy Reading!


	56. The Worst Case Scenario

"Killian? No!" Emma breathed as she and David knelt on the floor to examine the pirate.

"How'd that happen?" Regina asked looking at the wound before her. She couldn't really see what was happening but it was a question she wanted answered as well! He'd been perfectly fine two minutes ago. Hell, he'd been perfectly fine two seconds ago!

"I-i-it was Excalibur! It was just a small cut! I healed it!" Emma explained in a panic.

That was bad. She could see the dagger and the sword on the table still two separate entities. The spark was nothing but an ember again. She hadn't done anything with the blade yet. And that meant that a panicked Emma was a dangerous Emma.

"I'm afraid it only seemed that way," Merlin commented stepping forward to examine Killian himself. "Excalibur was forged to cut immortal ties, a wound from it cannot be healed."

"What?! There has to be something we can do-that she can do!" Mary Margaret fought.

"Even Emma's power isn't strong enough, nor is my own," he responded. A wound to the neck that couldn't be healed by a sword forged to cut immortal ties…she could read between the lines. Killian wasn't going to live. If it was designed to kill immortality then mortality didn't stand a chance. And Hook…

"Killian, you have to hold on I can't lose you."

"It's alright! Emma, it's alright!" Killian responded quickly. It was obvious why. He was struggling.

"No! Please! Don't leave me, you understand!" Emma cried over him. "You have to stay, come on Killian, what about our future together?!"

"Our future is now," she heard him breath out.

Her jaw dropped and she covered her mouth as it all began to sink in deeper. He wasn't just going to die, he was dying. It wouldn't be long. And no, she wasn't exactly fond of Killian, she never really considered him her friend but she was long past seeing him as her worst enemy. And if she was honest, after suffering through the death of her own True Love once before she hated the thought of anyone else having to go through it! Whether it was Snow and David or Killian and Emma…it was something far more painful than death itself!

She held that image of Rumple smiling at her in her head again and let her eyes fill with tears. She couldn't lose him. She couldn't, not again. Not to death and certainly not to separation. She had to get home and tell him. He had to wake up.

"Unite the blades!" Killian urged suddenly bringing her back to the present. "So I can see them before I go."

Belle glanced down at the blades suddenly realizing that was the best thing he could do for her now. If death was unavoidable then, yes, Emma needed to listen to him and unite Excalibur, she needed to lose the darkness before he passed. She was dangerous unless-

"No!" Emma barked suddenly.

"No?!" Regina chastised, sounding more like her parent than her friend.

"I'm not going to let him die when I know there's a way to save him."

"Emma," Regina comforted as she might with Henry. She leaned down to address her; it was odd to watch, motherly in a way. "Merlin said it there's nothing you can do."

"That's what he said. But it's not true is it!" Emma stated turning around to stare at the wizard. Her eyes…they were on fire. For a moment she had the urge to reach out pick the ember up and run, to save these pieces she knew Emma needed from the Darkness inside of her, to make the choice for her! But she'd already played that game before. Emma was the Dark One, Killian was dying, and she was angry. She could run for as long as she wanted, it wouldn't be far enough to outrun Emma.

"You told me how powerful I am, let's use that power," Emma insisted. "I…I can use the Promethean Flame to free you from Excalibur and then I can use it to tether Hook's life to it instead. It could save him!"

It could save Killian, but even she knew magic that great would destroy Emma. What was left of her at least.

"Emma you know what that could do," Merlin stated beside her.

"Create another Dark One," Regina concluded in a harsh tone. Another Dark One. Potentially another Dark One. Merlin had been tied to the sword, he was apparently still tied to the sword but he wasn't a Dark One! Because he was good. It took goodness. Merlin hadn't fallen prey because he was a good person able to resist temptation. Killian…he'd only just transformed himself into Killian instead of Hook. She honestly didn't know if he had the power to overcome that temptation. Maybe she should have run into the forest with it. At the very least it would have allowed Killian to die in peace while Emma came after her! But it would also be murder.

"You'll multiply the Darkness so that it cannot be destroyed, not without you paying the steepest of prices," Merlin warned. "It will be your final step into the Dark."

She'd been right, it wasn't just Killian at risk. It was Emma's soul too.

Still, Emma turned back to Killian, she couldn't see his face, Emma was blocking her view, but he'd gone mysteriously quiet all of the sudden. That couldn't be good. For any of them. Especially not Emma.

"I don't care what happens to me," Emma insisted in a rough tone.

"Emma, wait!" David urged.

"Please!" Mary Margaret hissed stooping down next to her daughter and husband. "Listen! You can't!"

She opened her mouth but couldn't think of anything to say. She'd done stupid things with the darkness before to get her own true love back. She'd defied nearly everyone in this room and Neal had paid the price for it. As much as she hated it she had no right to insist she not do it.

"Emma, your parents are right," Regina urged on her behalf.

"If you could have saved Daniel, or Robin, look how far you were willing to go, look how far you pushed me to save him!" Emma screamed at her, motioning to Robin Hood.

It seemed to work. Regina pressed her lips together, suddenly just as speechless as she was as Emma cried and looked back at Killian.

He was still quiet.

"I'm not going to lose Killian," she cried suddenly. "And I'm not going to let anyone stop me."

Her words, suddenly clear as day were clearly her last ones. She wished she could say she was surprised when Emma and Killian disappeared in a plume of dark grey smoke, when she looked down at the table to find the dagger, sword, and spark gone…but she wasn't.

Emma was gone. Emma and Killian were gone. The sword, the dagger, the spark, Killian and Emma…they were all gone. And that left everyone helpless to do anything as they stood there with their mouths open trying to figure out what to do next.

"Did that really just happened?" Mary Margaret questioned in a small voice, looking down at the spot her daughter had just been with wide eyes.

"We have to go after her!" Regina declared.

"I'm afraid Emma has made her choice," Merlin concluded sadly.

"The hell she has!" Regina hollered stepping up to him. "We have to find her, fast. We have to stop her. If we don't then she'll never be able to rid herself of the Darkness."

"She will but not easily," Merlin explained.

"And that would be relevant, _if_ we weren't going to find her and stop her!" Regina screamed.

"Regina what do we do?" Robin asked beside her.

"We have to track her. _You,_ find her! I know you can!"

"I can," Merlin answered calmly. "But my magic isn't strong enough now."

"Make it strong enough!"

"Regina!" Mary Margaret shrieked.

"No! He wants to push Emma to the brink but doesn't want to do it himself?! He's making excuses! You may be tired but you're not a rechargeable battery. Work through it and find her!" Regina shouted.

"And how do you propose I do that?" he questioned. "It's not as simple as a tracking spell when there is nothing left to track. She disappeared into the air."

"So track her magic," Belle muttered realizing the way around it. "We know that she's going to take Killian away and use Dark Magic to bind him to the sword, don't track Emma, track the Dark Magic. That only takes a simple sensing spell."

"Excellent!" Regina hissed with excited eyes. Then she turned around and glanced into the kitchen. "Where did you leave those books? We've only got a few minutes at best to-"

"Merlin?" Robin questioned out loud.

Merlin? She glanced over at the wizard next to her and saw that he was staring off into the distance, his mouth opening and closing as if he was in shock. She heard the click of Regina's shoes as she stepped away and looked back at him.

"What's happening?" Robin asked as they all stared. A moment later he wasn't just staring…something was happening. There was something coming off of him, something she'd seen only once before. In her Pawn shop. It was the same substance that came off of Rumple's heart the day the Apprentice had tried to free him of the Darkness. That couldn't be good.

"It's too late," Merlin whispered as the inky tendrils reached into the sky like vines and then evaporated into smoke before completely disappearing.

It was over. They could track Emma, they could sense her magic all they wanted. It wouldn't make a difference. Wherever Emma was, wherever she'd taken Killian and the flame and the pieces of the sword...Merlin was right, it was too late. Emma had already used the flame to free Merlin by force and bind Hook's life force to the sword in his place. The next time they saw her Emma would be Dark. And Killian…

Would it be Killian she saw next…or Hook?

She gasped as suddenly Merlin made a choking sound and his feet left the floor. He was lifted up, his eyes facing the ceiling, every joint was ridged, every muscle was taunt, and she had the feeling that Merlin was being wrung out like an old rag. And then-

Merlin collapsed. As the last tendril of darkness left him, snaked through the air and disappeared into the sky, every part of Merlin relaxed and his body fell back onto the floor in a heap.

"Oh!" she hurried forward when he didn't move and knelt by his side with Doc who immediately reached for his neck.

"His heart is still beating!" he declared as they rolled him over. "He's still breathing!"

But he wasn't awake. His eyes were closed and he was clearly unconscious, the last of his energy was simply gone! Or was it just all of his magic. How much had Emma taken from him? How much was left? And how much of Emma and Killian were still out there now?!

She glanced up at the others and looked at their desperate eyes. No. Not desperate. Frightened. No one could really believe what had just happened. But it had. And now they needed a new plan.

"What now?" she questioned.

No one answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dividing these chapters up was so difficult! There was another place I considered cutting this chapter off so I could split it in two but it just didn't work as well. I'm sorry for the awkwardness; sometimes I can do nothing about it.
> 
> Thank you, Paige_Turner36, for your comments on the last chapter. Two more left and they might be my two favorites of Moments Taken, odd because my favorite two chapters of Moments Clear and Unclear are also the last two chapters. Up next we've got one last chat with Merlin and then one with Neal before we are heading back to Storybrooke. Brace yourselves because I feel a change in the winds...and it's big and purple and magical. It's a curse. Amnesia anyone? Peace and Happy Reading!


	57. An Unknown Last Encounter

"The sun's down, it'll be dark soon. Shouldn't they have been back already?" Leroy asked looking out the window.

She shook her head as her fingers played with the top little button of the bell jar in booth she sat. "Merlin knew where the vault was, Regina didn't. She was going to take them to the place they found Emma last time and Merlin was going to guide them from there. It might be a while," she answered. Her voice was soft, but still loud in the quiet diner. It had been forty-five minutes. Forty-five minutes since Emma and Hook had disappeared and hadn't come back. They hadn't been prepared for something like that and no one was prepared to do anything about it. They were clueless, all of them. Until Robin made the suggestion that Killian was no different than any of them. He had a past, he had temptations, yes it would be easier for him to fall prey to the darkness but that was no reason to abandon him and not try to save him.

The others agreed, but it was Regina, naturally, who pointed out the flaw in the plan. They'd help him all they could, but it was difficult to do when he wasn't in the room, wasn't even in the same bubble as they were!

"So we go to them," David suggested. "We'll find them just as we found Emma! We look for the vault."

"Well that's great except for the fact that we never found Emma at the vault," Regina had pointed out with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know where the vault is," Merlin had inserted. "We are quite a distance from it now of course, and moving the diner again would be foolish, but perhaps we could have a magical assistance…"

"I'll take you to where we found Emma-"

"And I'll take you the rest of the way to the vault."

That was the plan. Go to the vault. Track down Killian. Bring him and Emma home. Figure it out from there.

She wasn't convinced it was going to be that simple. She hoped it would be, she wanted it to be but even if they encountered the best case scenario, if they found Emma and Killian together and they came back willingly and ready to help themselves, that still left the "figure-it-out" step. It had taken them six weeks to get here, six weeks for the rose to wilt as it had now…she wasn't sure how much longer they could wait, she wasn't sure how much longer Rumple had and she knew she had to get back to him. Was that even a possibility now? It had been when Emma was the Dark One. With Hook infected, the pair of them, she doubted getting home fast to her comatose husband was at the top of everyone's list.

"Boys are down for the night," Granny commented striding back into the diner. Not long after Mary Margaret and David left Neal had begun to cry and with the sounds of jumping upstairs it was obvious that Roland was growing restless too. Still, no one wanted to let him outside to play, not at a time like this and so Granny had enlisted the help of Henry, who had been left behind much to his disappointment and then told he couldn't go outside and guard the bubble with Robin Hood to help her calm them down and release the dwarves to stand watch outside with Robin. Neal had stopped screaming half an hour ago, Roland's jumping had ceased fifteen minutes ago and now Granny stood before them missing the other half of her team.

"Henry?" she questioned.

"Still upstairs," she answered. "Still unhappy. He decided he'd rather try and grab some sleep too."

Her heart raced as she glared at Granny. "You don't think he'll try to sneak out, do you."

Granny shrugged. "Possibly, but he won't make it out, not so long as I'm awake at least. I'll hear him," she explained pointing to her ears.

"Right…wolf hearing," she recalled, remembering how Granny had once heard a group of people from two blocks away. That was enough to convince her.

She felt bad for Henry, truly she did. He wanted so badly to go with the other's after Emma and Killian but he was the only one, the vote was unanimous, with the exception of him, that this was beyond the level of danger he could handle. Emma they trusted with their son, but there was no telling with Killian. He might be alright to be around Henry, just as he always was, but if even a small bit of him resented Emma for transforming him into the Dark One then that small bit would grow under the influence of Darkness and make Henry a target. She should know, her association with Rumple had made her an unwilling target more often than she'd wanted to be.

"It's dark," Leroy commented when Granny returned. "I'm going to go help Robin and my brothers, the two of you good to stay here?"

They nodded and Granny reached behind the counter to pull out yet another crossbow. She would never have guessed that Granny's diner was as well armed as it was before this trip. No wonder people never went toe to toe in Granny's diner, both fighters would find themselves injured before the first punch flew.

"So…" Granny piqued sitting down in the booth beside her. "I don't suppose you could make another of those protection spell things to keep Hook out."

She shook her head and felt guilt rise up in her chest. She wanted to believe the best in Killian, truly she did, but she'd already thought of that option long ago and dismissed it. So much for trust. "He's a Dark One now, nothing I make will ever withstand his magic even if it does require fairy dust. It might take a little time but he'd eventually get through."

"Might give us some warning if he showed up," she suggested.

She snorted. "And then what? There's nothing we can do. We could leave and he'd follow, sit still and wait for him to break through…either way he catches us."

"It would be nice to have a heads up if we're going to be skinned alive."

"We won't be skinned alive," she corrected. "We haven't done anything to Killian there's no reason he would come after us. Henry, Emma, Mary Margaret, and David, those are the people we need to be worried about the most right now. If he's angry and wants to get to her, they are who he'll go after."

"And Neal."

"I'd like to think he wouldn't stoop that low…" though other than something she'd "like to think" she had no proof that he wouldn't. Maybe one of them should stay upstairs and watch the kids. She trusted Granny's hearing but when it was Henry and Hook the Dark One…

"I'm going to go sit upstairs with them," she resigned.

"Probably not a half bad idea. I'll go outside and-"

Before either of them were out of their seats red smoke erupted in the middle of the room and Regina, Mary Margaret, David, and Merlin returned.

"You're back? So fast?" she questioned.

"There was nothing to see," Regina answered with a grimace. Captain Dark One had already left the vault-"

"And he used magic so we couldn't track him," Mary Margaret added.

"Could you track the magic?"

Regina shook her head. "Wherever he's going he doesn't want to be found. Where is Robin?"

"Outside, guarding the perimeter. What happened to Lancelot?" Granny asked. She counted the people before her again and finally noticed what she hadn't before. Lancelot wasn't with them.

"We sent him closer to home, on a quest," David answered as Regina went to the window and glanced outside, she supposed, trying to locate Robin.

"His mother is the Lady of the Lake," Mary Margaret deciphered. "It's a long shot but we need all the help we can get. What about Henry and Neal? Roland?" Mary Margaret added.

"Asleep upstairs," she informed them finally getting to her feet and pulling her rose into her arms. "I was just about to go keep an eye on them."

Mary Margaret nodded. "We should wait outside too," she concluded. I don't know about Killian but Emma will come back to us."

"You can't know that anymore," Regina corrected.

Mary Margaret froze where she was and turned back to her, looking unamused at her comment. "I do. I don't know Hook as well as I should but I know my own daughter well enough to know that she will come back to us and ask for help. She knows we love her and she knows we're a team. If she's in over her head then she won't isolate herself, she'll come home."

"That may be, but just in case I'd like the diner cleared so that I can make preparations to protect us and Camelot against Hook or Emma if need be," Merlin suggested firmly.

Neither Mary Margaret or David liked that idea, she could tell from the look on their faces that they didn't like the way they'd lumped Emma into that sentence but-

"I thought you said you didn't have the strength," Regina growled.

Merlin gave another of his amused grins and nodded. "Indeed I did, but if there is anything I've learned from our brief time together it's that I am not a 'rechargeable battery' as you said. I may be tired and I may be weak, but that does not negate everything I know and feel about magic. I'm still capable of greatness. And if you allow me I'd like to give you the opportunity to see it."

Regina shrugged. "Can't argue with that," she commented before stepping around them and heading to the front door. We'll be outside if you need anything."

"I've got the back," Granny hollered as everyone filed out and left her standing alone in the diner with Merlin and her rose.

"Do you uh…do you need anything?" she asked looking him over.

He shook his head. "Just time. And that, as we both know, I have plenty of."

She nodded. "So you still have your magic then."

"Emma did nothing but unbind me from the dagger so she could bind her pirate to it. I still have my magic, tired and weak as it is right now. I'll push through."

She nodded again and shouldered her bell jar again. "I'm going to go watch the kids. Yell if you need anything."

"Belle!" he called before she could make her way into the kitchen. She turned back to see him there before her, right where she'd left him, looking almost sad. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small drawstring bag. "Keep that safe for me, for Camelot if you don't mind."

She reached out, took the bag, opened it, and stared down in confusion. Nestled inside was a white flower, similar to a rose. "I don't understand..."

"It's a Middlemist flower, the last of the buds grown from the very seeds Nimue once brought to me a few thousand years ago. I was careful to infuse it with my own magic so it would never wither and die. It's extremely powerful and might come in handy one day."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

He shrugged uncharacteristically. "Certainly can't have the Dark One take possession of it, it'll be safe in your hands, just as your rose has been all these weeks. And you never know when it might come in handy." Handy...Middlemist! She got it as she pulled the bag closed. This was the ingredient they'd been missing to summon Merlin when he'd been in the tree, the one they couldn't identify. How ironic to have it in her hands now.

"I'll keep it safe until this is over," she assured him. It made sense to her. The Dark One-Ones might come after him and if they got their hands on this flower, his magic, who knew what they'd be able to do. In her hands, they might not ever sense it.

"You're Rumpelstiltskin…he is a lucky man," Merlin added almost sadly. "I hope you both make the right choices."

She knew that he was trying to talk about something important, probably something in the future that she couldn't understand but she didn't care. She couldn't see anything beyond the most important fact of his statement. His tone.

"Why does it sound like you're saying good-bye?" she asked.

Merlin smiled, not out of amusement, but a big toothy one as if she'd said something funny, or made a joke. "Just imagine what life would be like, if we treated every encounter as though it was our last."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmm...I wonder why it seems like he's saying good-bye? So...there goes Merlin and with him all of our Belle/Merlin conversations that I've absolutely loved writing for this fiction. I hope that you've enjoyed them too and think that this is a fitting ending. As for the Middlemist he gave to Belle you will not see it again in MC&U, but it will be important for the 5B fiction so take it, store it, and forget about it for now. What am I planning for it...let's just hope that it is a work of genius.
> 
> Thank you Deweymay for the awesome and kind comments you left on the last chapter. Hard to believe it, but there is only one final chapter for Moments Taken. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter and the Belle/Merlin relationship. Next time...Neal is back. Peace and Happy Reading!


	58. Unexpected, Sudden Endings

Unsettling as their encounter had been she suddenly found herself too tired to sit there and argue with the wizards comment. It had been a long day. And behind that were three longer days. And further from that six long weeks that she could no longer separate as easily as she once had. Tucking the drawstring pouch into her belt and the rose into the crook of her elbow, she managed to climb the ladder up to the second story of the diner, even with her muscles screaming at her in the process. Once at the top, she opened the first of the three doors, the room that the adults had been sharing since they left the castle. She expected to find Henry awake, sitting on the bed or looking out the window, instead, he was on the bed and his eyes were closed. She could tell he wasn't sleeping. His eyes were closed so tight there were creases in them and his chest moved up and down too fast for him to really be asleep. She opened her mouth, her first instinct to ask if he was alright…

But then she shut it. She knew he wasn't alright with what had happened. How could he be? And if he was pretending that hard to sleep then she figured that he probably wanted to be left alone. She could honor that. Not forever, but for a while. When the sun rose if he was still that way she'd go in and talk to him, but for now…he deserved a night to be angry and bitter.

So she closed the door and went to the one right beside it. The rooms were identical but this was the one that had been deemed the children's room. Neal had a small crib set up in the corner that Granny had stashed around since she'd been watching Neal before they left and Roland's small form was tucked into the bed he usually shared with Henry. Unlike Henry, there was no doubt he was actually asleep. The snake Regina had turned into a stuffed animal for him was clutched in his little hand and he had a thumb half hanging out of his mouth should he awake in the middle of the night and need the comfort of it again. Roland was out cold.

She sighed, walked to the corner and gazed down at Neal. He too was out for at least the next few hours until he needed changed or got cold or was hungry. And that left her.

Without a child to tend to she walked over to the desk by the door pulled out the chair and sat down. She placed the drawstring pouch in the desk drawer and her rose upon the desk then rested her head against the arms that she folded there. She looked at the foggy glass and was amazed when it cleared for her before she'd ever had the thought. It would be odd when she got back to Storybrooke and found that she didn't need to carry that bell jar with her. She felt more connected to it these days than she did Rumpelstiltskin! Although…if she was honest with herself she felt more of a connection to him now than when she'd initially arrived a week ago!

Strange. Maybe absence did make the heart grow fonder. Maybe after six weeks separated and then nine more apart she was finally just beginning to crack. The problem was that she still wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Absence could make the heart grow fonder; it was a shame that it couldn't make the heart clearer. She knew what she wanted now; it was abundantly clear to her downstairs when Emma and Killian had been smiling at each other. She wanted that back. But getting that back…it was terrifying! Henry was right, it was like riding a bike after a bad accident. She longed for the looks he'd give her, for sleepy mornings, and easy meals...but those things came at a great cost. Lies, deception, cheating…

And yes, she knew things were different now, she knew he didn't have magic anymore but…she didn't know if that was enough. If it was suddenly too little too late. She'd wanted to be chosen by him not win his love by default! And she didn't know how much of him was left. She was certain the man she loved was there somewhere, but it had been centuries since he'd been without magic. His ability to do magic was gone, but his knowledge of it wasn't, his ability to cheat and steal and lie…that would remain. She longed for the feeling of flying down a hill at top speed. She didn't long for the crash that came when she couldn't keep her balance.

She sighed once more and turned her head, so it rested on her arms, and she could close her eyes to the world around her as she waited.

She knew what she wanted, but she didn't know if what she wanted was what she needed. And she couldn't even begin to fathom how to get it even if she believed she needed it.

"You know, you really should talk to my father about things like this instead of me." When she turned her head, she found Neal perched on the corner of the bed when his elbows on his knees and his hands folded.

So she was talking to Neal again. And he had a point. She was happy to imagine Rumple's smiling face in her head when he was silent but when she needed to talk through something, talk to someone…it was always Neal that her mind called upon.

She sighed and let herself smirk. "You're easier to talk to," she concluded.

"Yeah, isn't that kind of the problem."

She raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment. Yes, it was a problem. She was all too happy to talk to Neal but when it came to Rumple…that was hard. "I don't know what I'd say to him. I don't know how that conversation would start or…"

"How it would end?" he assumed.

She gave a small nod. He knew what she knew. It wasn't the beginning she feared most of all; it was the ending. "It makes sense why we love each other, doesn't it? He was always afraid of starting what he couldn't finish, I'm afraid of finishing what we start."

"You're both stubborn, you both have walls."

"I didn't always," she pointed them out. "There was a time he could have told me we were going to vacation in hell and I would have followed him. Now I'm just…cautious."

"I guess that makes you even then," Neal muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…before it was you insisting he bring down his walls right? Now you've both got work to do."

She hadn't thought about it that way before. She'd always seen his insecurities, this was the first time that she'd seen her own and...goodness, was this what he felt like?! Every time she dared him to take a chance and jump with her? Was he always this terrified?! Suddenly she regretted pushing too fast. And…maybe one other thing.

"I never should have sent him over that line," she mumbled. "There were…a million and a half other ways that night could have gone and that was the way I chose to deal with it! I spent months tearing the wall between us down and in three seconds I built it right back up again twice as thick."

"Yeah, in all fairness, you didn't exactly do it yourself. He helped. It's hard to think rationally when someone hurts you like that. I mean it's not like you caught him planning a birthday party you didn't ask for."

"No, but…but I didn't help him. I helped the town...but I didn't help him, or us," she whispered sadly, traveling back in her mind to moments that she hadn't understood what was happening but had known something was wrong all the same. The way he made excuses, the way he didn't want to get involved, the evenings he didn't come to bed, his nightmares…she'd known deep down he was lying. And she chose not to believe it. "I could see something was wrong, Bae. I knew something wasn't right and instead of pushing him to tell me I chose to ignore it."

"Yeah, but do you really think it would have helped? That he would have told you what was really bothering him?"

She shook her head. "I guess we'll never know, will we."

"Guess not."

There was silence between the two of them for a long time. Neal looked at his hands waiting for her to say something, she looked past him to the crib and waited for him to say something. But she wasn't sure what there was left to be said, only…

Something had changed since they began their conversation. Or maybe it hadn't. Maybe she'd always know but been looking at it the wrong way.

"I might not be sure about what I want, Neal, but I know what I need if we're going to be together again the way we once were. I need him to be truthful and honest. I need him to tell me what he's doing and what he's thinking, even if he doesn't want to, to let me in even on the painful things, and let me help him. I need the opportunity to be in his life, not just a page or a footnote; I need to be a main character!

"And I need to push, not for him but for us. I need not to walk on eggshells when he's around for fear I'll break him even further. If it needs to be mended, then I need to fix it. If it hurts, then I need to learn to endure instead of walking away.

"I know that we have problems, but I know that a lot of them could be solved if we just talked to each other like husband and wife should. I think before I got confused, and thought that because we were together all the time we were close, but it's not the external distance that matters most. Maybe that was part of the problem before, maybe we were together too much and didn't talk with enough of our time. It's hard to say but…

"I know I need to change. I know we need a change, and things can't be as they were. I just need him to know it too!"

A small smirk appeared at the corner of Neal's mouth in the seconds that followed. "Then what do you still need me for?" he asked.

Terrifying as it was, she opened her mouth and met his eye. "I guess I don't," she realized.

Neal smiled and she-

She jumped out of her seat and opened her eyes. No one was in the room but her and the boys but…vibration. A vibration had woken her from sleep; she just didn't know what it was. And downstairs…talking? Yes. Those were certainly the cadences of speaking but…who?

Quietly she rose from her place at the desk and went to the window. Mary Margaret, David, even Regina were all still outside just like she'd seen them before but now…so was Emma. And she looked…she looked different. Black and pale all at the same time. Cold. They were talking outside, just at the perimeter of the protection spell she'd cast but…

If they were talking outside…who was talking downstairs?

Merlin for one. She recognized him only because she knew to listen for him but the other…it was clearly a male. Killian? Was it possible he was-

Suddenly something changed.

She watched out the window as Emma strode right passed her parents passed Regina and began trekking up to the diner. If it weren't for the fact that her skin was so pale she would have had a hard time seeing her in her dark clothes. But the moon helped her locate the others, who called after her and then ran after her. She couldn't make out what they were saying beyond names through the glass and distance but she knew from the tone that Emma didn't want them following. She continued to walk up to the diner, never missing a step, until she threw her hand up in the air…and Regina and her parents suddenly froze where they were mid-step. Emma kept on moving without even looking back.

She gasped and turned her back to the wall, hiding herself from the glass and Emma's eyes.

Emma was coming. She was the Dark One, as completely dark as she could be now and she was coming. The voice she heard downstairs…was Killian here? What were they planning on doing?

She wasn't sure she wanted to know. It couldn't be good if she'd stopped her parents and Regina from coming after her.

Beside her, Roland moved, and the floor creaked a little as he snuggled under the blankets unaware of the danger lurking. She held her breath and waited. Waited for anything. For her heart to stop pounding, for the cadences to change, for a flash of light, for a yell, for the door to open. Anything!

But nothing seemed to change. Maybe they hadn't heard. Quietly she moved forward and moved the chair she'd been sitting in against the door. Her thinking? She wasn't positive she was thinking. Just acting on instinct. At least if Emma or Killian came up here they wouldn't be able to get to Neal or Roland without some struggle. It wouldn't be difficult, but it wouldn't be planned either.

As for Henry…she hadn't heard anything from the room next door either. She gathered her rose up in her lap by the chair and prayed he wouldn't move, wouldn't get out of bed or try anything that might alert those downstairs to their presence upstairs.

Without prompting, without thinking it, the glass under her fingers melted away. Her rose lit the room in a hazy red hue even with its wilting, and she found herself holding it closer like it was a teddy bear instead of glass.

"Oh Rumple," she whispered quietly. "I don't know what I want but I know what I need, and I promise that if I make it through this, I'm going to try. I promise I'll be there when you wake up and when you do we'll try to make things right, no matter how we start or how we finish we'll make it right."

The world seemed to slow suddenly; she felt an odd tugging at her heart as she heard a thump downstairs and suddenly felt tired, lightheaded, and short of breath. But she wasn't scared. Because just before she gave into the urge to slump forward and sleep, a single floating rose petal floated up from the bottom of her jar and sealed itself upon the rose with a gleaming wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, welcome to the end. I really hope that you enjoyed this story! The next story in the Moments series will be Moments Clear and Unclear. It will cover everything that happened in Storybrooke during 5A beginning with the group returning to Granny's diner without their memories in "The Dark Swan" and ending with the moment that Belle goes back to Rumple in "Swan Song". 
> 
> Of course, if you liked what you read please give kudos or comments! I love getting those wonderful little gems in my inbox and communicating with the people reading on a personal level. And if you want to read more (and comment more), please check out any of the other fictions in the Moments Series. For more information on the Moments Series, upcoming fictions, posting and publishing dates, or a reading order check out my profile for updates. Peace and Happy Reading!


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